Special Jewels for Life
by cats n dots
Summary: Silver is as grumpy as ever, so Crys decides to give him a birthday present to cheer him up: a book that contains twenty tasks that will change his life. Can Silver complete the challenge, and moreover, can he learn to appreciate life in the way?
1. Merry Christmas, and Happy Birthday

Special Jewels for Life

A/N: Magical Christmas to everyone! And also, it's Silver's birthday today so congratulations to him as well. And just as a side comment, to me Blue is the boy and Green is the girl. Just for you to know. Enjoy!

Chapter I: Merry Christmas, and Happy Birthday.

December 24th. It was a combined birthday and Christmas party. There were people, presents, music… Things that he despised. And tried to avoid as possible.

The red-haired teenager was leaning to the wall and trying to blend into the tapestry. It was a lost cause, though, especially as Green was there.

"Silver! There you are!" the girl's voice pierced even the overly-loud music. Very reluctant-looking Blue was dragged along, despite his muttered objections. All Silver could hear was 'Pesky Girl' and 'Mew help me'.

"So, are you having fun?" Green asked Silver, holding tightly on Blue's arm as the boy tried to escape.

_No._ "Yeah, sure", he said, his hands deep in his pockets. As much as he loved – as a sister, of course – the brown-haired girl standing in front of him and now babbling away, today he'd go with Blue's opinion: pesky. Silver's idea of a fun birthday was slightly different that Green's. First up, there wouldn't be the whole goddamn region invited, if he'd be in charge. Didn't people want to celebrate Christmas in their homes, with their families?

Oh, but Green had taken care of that too. Since Red's place was so big, it wasn't a problem at all to invite the families as well. Go figure.

"…But go get some food or drinks over there. And try to be more sociable! Have you even said hi to those Sinnoh trainers?"

Right. Correction: not just the region, there were people from Hoenn and Sinnoh too. Dex Holders, parents, professors, champions, Gym leaders… Apparently everybody had way too much free time.

"Okay, I'll just…" he muttered and motioned at some direction. Green looked delighted. "Great! Okay, Blue, come on, there's Professor Rowan! Let's check if he's doing alright!"

Blue's eyes begged for mercy. Silver felt all the sympathy for the boy; he knew that what came to organizing and hosting parties, Green could be a monster.

Now he had to find another place to hide. He wondered if there was any way to sneak out of the cramped room unnoticed, but he hardly doubted it. He had tried it already – a glance at the clock – exactly 13 minutes before. How slow could that clock get?

He had no interest in going to the foods and drinks, but because the other choices nearby were the ever-so-charming Gold hitting on some women Silver didn't recognize and the arguing Hoenn couple, the almost-deserted food table seemed like a peaceful harbour on that raging sea of partying people.

There was only that weird boy wearing a beret, eating as fast as he could. _What's wrong with these kids nowadays?_

After a while of observing the endless munching and chewing, Silver was almost sure that anything could happen around the boy without him taking notice. At least as long as the food kept on coming.

But hey, that suited Silver perfectly. He had noticed that the sparkling silver and red table cloth was so long that nobody would notice him under the table. Yay, a good place to hide, finally.

After a final glace at the food boy and the rest of the room, the teenager raised the cloth a little and slipped underneath it.

Although his feet didn't have enough space, and he hardly saw anything in the darkness, it was much more comfortable down there. At least he was alone.

Except that he wasn't.

Right next to him, there was someone lying on the floor and breathing heavily. Cursing the lousy visibility, he peered at the figure.

"Crys?" he whispered.

"Mhhff", the figure said and moved a little. Yes, it had to be Crystal; he recognized the pointy pigtails even in the darkness. Strange, he hadn't seen her at the party.

Suddenly the girl jumped and sat up. She looked around hastily. "Silver? Is that you?"

"Yeah. What're you doing down here?" the boy said in a low tone.

"Well I – I must've fallen asleep", she whispered, trying to smoothen her messy hair. "Sorry for not greeting you or anything. I wanted to, but I just had an amazing headache, and all that hassle out there doesn't quite help… so I kind of crawled here, and... I'm sorry."

He couldn't care less about being greeted of not. "It's okay."

The girl looked at him curiously. "Umm… how about you? Why are you here?"

"Hiding." Silver sighed. "From the crazy party people. Mostly Green."

"Oh, right! Merry Christmas… and happy birthday, Silver. I almost forgot."

_Great, here we go again._ "Thanks", he muttered halfheartedly.

"Although Green said it's okay since I helped with the preparations, I still feel a bit bad for not having a present…" she said embarrassed. "But I've been so busy with the research. And that's why I also was so late tonight."

"I don't want any presents." It came out a bit harsher than he had meant, but at least the message got through. "Oh", the girl said, and an awkward silence fell between them.

Silver thought about things to say but came up with none.

Now that he thought about it, she did seem a little more tired nowadays. He wondered what kind of things Prof. Oak made her do at the lab. He quickly shook away the images of exhausted Crys polishing the floor and carrying endless piles of research documents, and the laughing evil professor watching aside. She was probably just burying herself under the work again. He knew that the girl could sometimes be even too responsible.

"Why?"

Silver looked at the girl. "Huh?"

"The presents", she said. "Why don't you want presents?"

_I'm not telling you._ "'Cause they're pointless, birthdays and giving presents. I mean, why give somebody something they don't really need anyway? It's just… pointless." He noted that his voice was defiant. Who was he trying to convince?

But it was true. For example, the others had given him things like pokéballs (as if he'd need to catch more pokémon; his team was already perfect), some hair gel (_thanks_, Gold) and bright red mittens (well… he didn't like the color).

"Well, yeah, I – I understand." Silver knew she didn't. She obviously just didn't want to argue. Maybe it was the headache. "I guess you could say th…"

"_THERE YOU ARE!_"

_Crap_.

Green raised the table cloth and glared at the red-haired boy. "We've been looking for you!" Only then she noticed Crystal, who had a very startled look on her face. The brunette's eyes lit up. "Oooh, Crys! I was beginning to think that you won't show up at all!" She offered her hand and pulled the younger girl out of the hiding place. "Come, come – I have an _endless_ list of people I want to introduce to you!"

Silver and apparently-forgotten Blue watched as Green dragged confused Crystal away to meet somebody at the other side of the room. The two boys looked at each other.

"Wanna join?" Silver asked from under the table, pointing the floor next to him.

Blue glanced around gloomily. "You bet."

…

A couple of days later, Crystal was walking on the peaceful streets of Pallet Town. Professor had surprisingly insisted that she'd take the day off, saying that she was spending too much time working.

Who, she? More like too little, if they asked her.

But they didn't, and that was the reason for her having an entire day without anything to do.

"_Oh, what to do, what to do, what to do…_"

After a while of aimless walking she noticed a small bookstore. Yes, good. She hadn't had any time to read in ages. Maybe she'd find something interesting there. Already happier because she had something to do, she went in.

_But the next problem is_, she thought, wandering in between the shelves offering everything from romance novels to cooking books, _that I never seem to find anything I'd like to read_…

"Ugh, why is this so hard? Come on, just pick…" This was awful.

_Okay, just take one and buy it, stupid._ She stopped before one shelf and closed her eyes. _At random, then…_ Her hand ran over the smooth and slippery backs of the books. Then it stopped and grabbed one.

She felt that the book she had chosen was quite thin and a bit smaller than the ones around it. She pulled it out of the row and opened her eyes.

"Special Jewels for life..?"

She examined the book with curiosity. Apparently, it wasn't a novel, but it had to do. She had decided to buy whatever she picked. While walking towards the cash desk, she read the cover text.

"Wow, this is…" An image of a red-haired head swam into her mind. Yes, it was perfect for him.

The girl knew that Silver had said he didn't want any presents, but this was just too suitable.

She stepped to the cashier. "Hi. By the way, do you have any wrapping paper?"


	2. Fall Over in a Public Place

A/N: Here we go again! I'm afraid I have made Silver a little _too_ gloomy and blunt to be really from the manga; he seems to be more like the one from the games. Somehow I think it would've been fitting if I had made this a soulsilvershipping fic instead, but I just don't like Kotone. There's something fishy about her… Anyway, enjoy the brand new chapter!

Chapter II: Fall Over in a Public Place.

'_I know you didn't want anything, but I couldn't help it. I think you might find it useful. Happy late b-day! – Crys_'

Silver eyed the package on the table warily. The card that had come with it was now a miserable bundle inside his fist. Just why was it so hard to understand that he didn't want presents?

'_P.S. Xatee will make sure that you really open it._'

The boy glanced at the psychic pokémon who had delivered the package. At the moment, it was glaring at him from his windowsill. It had gotten quite big lately, and Silver wasn't so enthusiastic to see how exactly it was going to 'make sure' he opened the present. So he grabbed the colourful package from the table and ripped the wrapping paper off. "Happy now?" he asked the bird. Apparently it was, as it flew happily out through the open window.

"Special Jewels for life…?"

A book. _What was she thinking?_

Surely she had noticed that he wasn't the type to read much. In fact, he couldn't even remember the last time he had held a book. There were more reasonable things to spend your day doing, than to sit and spoil your eyes with something that wasn't even real.

Silver flipped the book around and read the short cover text.

'_Think your life is without meaning? Tired with everything and everyone? Or just plain bored? This book contains twenty special jewels of advice on how to make your life brighter and more exciting in form of tasks for you to complete. Are you ready to take the challenge? Are you ready to change your life?_'

Silver blinked.

…_Rubbish_. He tossed the book to an overly-full bin under the table. Then he walked over to his bed and slumped onto the old felt.

The place was one of his secret hideouts; the one that was closest to a home to him. Well, at least he had spend the most of his time here lately, possibly because it was near Viridian City, the city _that man_ was from.

The hideout consisted of only one, simple room with rough stone walls and a small amount of furniture: a simple bed on one side, and a rickety wooden desk and a small closet on the other. The space in between was filled with a rugged mat, brought in just for decoration.

In fact, the mat was the only thing he had allowed Green to bring there. She had wanted to decorate more, but Silver had strictly declined the offer. He preferred simplicity over some colourful curtains or blossoming plants which he knew to be in the girl's mind, anyway.

He glanced at the bin. A corner of the book was sticking out of it.

"'_You might find it useful…_'", the boy muttered and huffed. Seriously, what was she thinking? Did she really think he'd need something like that? Cheering up?

His life was good enough. He didn't have a proper family, but he had Green, and his pokémon. And there were people he considered as friends, like Crys and – in a way – Gold, too. It wasn't his fault that he was not the lightest and the most straightforward person.

_Some silly tasks,__ I don't even want to…_

The boy rolled his eyes. He wondered what kind of 'jewels' there were in the book. Probably something useless, like 'smile more', or 'help an old person to cross the street'.

Like he cared.

But his curiosity had awoken, and he couldn't help it but to walk over to the bin and take the book. _Okay, let's see then…_ He opened it and started to read.

'_So, you are interested in taking the challenge? At first, please, choose your level of difficulty. Is it:_

_a) easy (a task every now and then, when you have time)_

_b) normal (a task every week), or_

_c) hard (a task every day)?_'

If he'd be really in, he'd choose hard for sure; the other choices seemed too tame… wait, why was he even thinking about it?

'_Did you choose already? Good. Now, the rules:_

_- Follow the level of difficulty you just chose._

_- Complete the tasks in order. No skipping._

_- Before doing what is asked, read the chapter completely. It gives you a clue on why you are doing the task at hand._

_- After completing a task, answer the questions asked at the end of the chapter, and move on to next one, until you reach the end._

_Now you are ready to start. Please, turn the page._'

Frowning, Silver obeyed.

'_Chapter 1: Fall over in a public place._'

"…What?"

Silver stared at the headline. He wasn't sure if he had read the words correctly. How could falling over in a public place possibly help anyone enjoy life more? With a slight interest, he read on.

'_The first jewel for a better life is: "Don't worry about the small stuff." It is a very important thing to keep in mind, but for some reason it gets forgotten rather easily. Everyone makes mistakes: everyone breaks something accidentally, puts a shirt on backwards or gets clumsy every now and then. There is nothing wrong with it; it's not a big deal. And thus, your first task is to go to a crowded place, for example a shopping centre or a park, and simply fall over in front of the people. It might feel a little embarrassing at first, but we guarantee that you'll feel much better afterwards._'

Then there were the questions:

'_How was the task? Was it_

_a) a piece of cake_

_b) nothing special, or_

_c) difficult?_

_What happened?_

_How did it make you feel?_'

Silver still couldn't understand how on earth falling over would make him any happier. _Who even writes books like that? _Shrugging, he tossed the book onto the table and turned his back at it. There was no way he'd do anything that stupid. That was just pointless.

He crossed his arms and huffed. Just pointless. He looked over his shoulder at the book, which was now lying very innocently on the table.

Just… pointless?

…

Silver was standing in the middle of the Viridian City centre, the book deep inside his pocket.

…_And why am I taking orders from some silly book again? _He looked at the people walking around him, everyone seeming to have someplace to go. Nobody paid any attention to the boy.

Well, maybe he really was waiting for a miracle of some kind. Could it be true that something as simple as stumbling in front of people would make something happen? It sounded so stupid that it had to do _something_, right?

So that was the reason for him taking a deep breath and starting to walk forward.

After exactly ten steps, he turned his left foot in front of the right one, and made himself trip.

He fell to the ground with his left hand trying instinctively to get support. It hit the ground first, and Silver felt the asphalt scratching his palm.

There he was lying, in front of everybody. His hand and thigh hurt. Would he dare to look up?

Hesitantly, and his face in the shade of deep red, he sat up and looked around him.

Nobody offered to lift him up. Nobody even seemed to notice him. They were all still going into their own directions, not paying attention to anything else.

Slightly offended by this surprising change of things, he stood up and shook the dust off his sweater and pants. _What's wrong with you people? Someone falls over in front of you, and you just ignore it?_

Shaking his head, he examined his left hand. It was now bleeding. And from the ache in his left thigh he predicted that tomorrow there'd be some massive bruises there.

Oh well, what'd he expect? That the skies would open, and a ray of light would surround him, or something like that? _Yeah, right._

Clutching his bleeding hand and wondering whether he had any band-aids at home, he turned around and walked away from the crowded city centre, definitely not feeling any happier than before.


	3. Bon Appétit!

A/N: Sorry for the delay! I thought that I'd have plenty of time to write now while I'm on holiday, but it seems that I thought wrong. But anyways, let's start the year with a new chapter (although a _little_ late). Luckily, it's a longer one. Last time, we left Silver feeling a bit hurt – both mentally and physically – because of the Evil Book of Jewels. Let's see if he's still up for the challenge!

Chapter III: Bon Appétit!

"…You _really_ did it?"

Silver nodded and rolled his eyes to the expression of pure disbelief on the girl's face. "How many times I have to say it, Crys?"

The girl shook her head, as if trying to think straight. "It's just… wow, I didn't think you'd actually even open the book."

To tell the truth, Silver was wondering about the same thing.

They were sitting on a bench in a small, sheltered park in the side of the city. Silver came here once in a while, because there was hardly ever any people there. And today wasn't an exception.

Crystal let out a small sigh and looked down at her wristwatch. Immediately, she seemed to acknowledge what she was doing and looked back up apologetically. "Sorry, I'm still not used to having this much free time", she said, her expression turning thoughtful. "Professor has been acting a little strange lately. Like today, he just sent me right back home in the morning, saying that I can have a day off, _again_. He seems to think that I'm overworking or something…"

_Like you are. _Silver felt a very tiny sting of guilt when he remembered having mentioned to Blue that Crys had been sleeping at the party. He strongly suspected that the guy had had a word with Gramps, and that it was the reason for Crys' increased amount of leisure time.

"But enough with that. Are you going to continue with the tasks today, Silver?" She asked matter-of-factly. Her eyes had suddenly sharpened, and she sat up straight.

The boy huffed. "What's the point?" he asked gloomily, raising his now-plastered left hand. "Yesterday honestly didn't make me feel any happier."

"Yeah, it sounded weird, having to fall over just like that. Was there any explanation in the book?"

"Look for yourself, if you like." Silver took the book from his pocket and frowned at the girl's expression. "What? I forgot it in my pocket. I don't carry it around purposely."

She stayed politely silent and took the book. Silver watched as her eyes scanned across the page. "It seems", she said after finishing, "that the point here was to just realise it's okay to make yourself look dumb once in a while… Was it really that bad? How did the people react?"

Silver thought about the moment he had lifted his head after falling, only to notice that nobody paid attention.

"They didn't even notice", he muttered. It still seemed so unfair.

To his surprise the girl smiled. "See? That's right! No-one laughed or said: 'oh, how embarrassing'. That's the 'Jewel' in this task! That the little things don't matter!"

"Oh." He hadn't thought about it that way. "But… it still hurts!" He protested and glanced at the plaster on his hand. _Stupid, silly, useless, foolish, _stupid_ book…_

Once again, Crys' reaction surprised him. Instead of showing compassion and comfort, she was... laughing? _To her heart's content?_

"Oh Silver, I'm sorry to say this, but…" she said, still chuckling, "I know kids who are more mature than you. That's just a scratch!"

Okay, now he was offended. He crossed his arms and looked away. The worst part of course was that he knew she was right.

"Don't sulk, Silver. I'm sorry…" the girl pleaded, but Silver could still hear the amusement in her voice. So he stayed silent.

He wasn't even sure why he was here with her. Wouldn't it have been better if he'd just gotten rid of the book and never told anyone about the incident? But for some reason, here he was, talking about that stupid task he had completed, with a girl who found it really amusing.

"Come on, let's just check what's the next task like. If it's something as stupid, then we'll forget about the whole thing, okay?"

Well, that didn't sound so bad. "Okay, whatever. Read on."

"No, wait! What about the questions about the last task? You have to answer them first!"

_Are you serious? _Silver suddenly felt like strangling something. "I don't have a pen", he said grimly.

"Don't worry, I've got one right here", she chirped, and handed over a neat ballpoint pen, along with the book. Maybe she had a habit of carrying a pen around because of her job as an assistant, Silver found himself thinking.

"Okay, then…"

'_How was the task? Was it_

_a) a piece of cake_

_b) nothing special, or_

_c) difficult?_'

Falling over? A piece of cake. Obviously. _Do I have to do this?_

'_What happened?_'

I went to the Viridian City Centre and fell over in front of the people. Just like the book told me. _What's the point in writing it down again?_

'_How did it make you feel?_'

It hurt. And it made me feel stupid. _Reeeally stupid._

Silver stopped writing and turned to Crystal. "Satisfied?"

She nodded happily. "Go on, turn the page!"

"Right." _Hope that's nothing too horrible… Wait, I still can quit anytime I want, can't I?_

'_Chapter 2: Go to a restaurant and order the 9__th__ meal on the menu._

_This time's Jewel is all about making you grow out of your routines. __Some people can be a little hidebound when it comes to food. We're sure you at least know someone who never eats outdoors or just orders the same dish every time. It can feel safer that way, but doesn't it get a little boring? Maybe you even recognize yourself. Was that the case? Then it's time to fix it! There is a wonderful world of new tastes and flavours out there, so why not try it out? Now, go to a pleasant restaurant nearby and order number 9 on the menu, whatever it is. And, of course, you must eat it. Bon appétit!_'

"Growing out of your routines, huh… Hey, that's great! I was beginning to feel a bit hungry. I'm sure there's a nice restaurant somewhere around here", Crys said, sounding alarmingly enthusiastic.

"Uh, I – I'm not that hungry myself…" As much as he didn't want to admit it, that actually didn't sound that bad. But he couldn't just _say so_, could he?

The bad thing was that his stomach decided to turn against him just then in the form of a small – but very much audible – grumble. The girl smirked.

…

_It's almost scary_, Silver thought, sitting in a cosy little table for two with Crys, _to think that this girl has such control over me. Just why am I doing this?_

"This seems like a nice place, doesn't it?" she asked, looking around. "All this wooden furniture and candles and all…" Silver huffed his response just before an overflowingly friendly voice cut the air.

"How can I help you, sweethearts? Would you like to order?"

The voice belonged to a motherly-looking, chubby little woman with grayish hair and an apron. She waddled towards their table and offered them the menus with a wide smile that looked almost like a grimace to Silver. Crys took hers and disappeared behind it, but he just sighed.

"I'll take number 9."

The waitress tossed a rapid glance at the menu and then exclaimed: "Why, an excellent choice, young man! And what about your…" She turned to Crys. "…_girlfriend_?"

Ba-thump. A silence.

A deep silence. Silver's heart had nearly stopped, and Crys had nearly dropped the menu.

"Oh, no, no! That's not it, we're not… uhm…" the girl stammered. Silver, involuntarily blushing, gave a murderous glare at the woman. "_Don't jump into conclusions, lady._"

Completely unaffected by the most vicious look that he could come up with, the waitress giggled a bit. "Oh, I'm sorry. I just thought, by the looks of you two… oh, never mind! Your order, missy?"

"Ah, umm… yeah, number 11, please…"

The devil disguised as a waitress wobbled away and left the two of them into a very awkward silence. Silver gazed down at his hands. Yeah, should've known it was a bad idea to come here.

"Uh, you didn't even look at the menu." Wow, she was still trying to keep the conversation up.

He didn't raise his gaze. "What difference would it make? To know what it is? I still have to eat it."

"Right…" They didn't talk any more until the food was served.

"Here you are, sweeties. Enjoy your meal!"

"…" Silver stared down at the plate that had been put on the table in front of him. Crystal was examining her own choice – a plateful of pasta with small chunks of something, was it chicken? – with far more pleased expression. "Thanks, it looks delicious!" she said, and the waitress responded in a delighted tone and went away.

_Shrimps_. Of all the food out there, why did it have to be shrimps? Silver hated shrimps. Absolutely, utmostly, completely _hated_ them.

"I'm not gonna eat that. I'm not."

Crys raised her eyebrows. "What is it? Don't you like shrimps?"

The boy shook his head and continued to eye the plate suspiciously.

Crys wasn't satisfied. "But you have to eat that! Didn't you just say so yourself? Just when was the last time you ate them, anyway?" She read his silence correctly. "Long time ago, huh? Well, you never know, it might be better than you remember."

"But I don't want to!" Yes, he sounded like a little kid. And yes, he knew it.

"_Silver._" Crys glared at him with an expression that made the boy suddenly remember that she had been working in the Violet City Orphanage for almost all her life. And _man_, with that look, she'd get any child behave like a sweet little angel. _Way better than my pitiful try_, he thought, the giggling waitress in his mind.

"Silver, you _are_ going to eat that."

"O-okay…" Under that look, he didn't have much choice.

Silver took the fork and knife into his hands. Hesitantly, and as slow as possible, he pierced one shrimp with the fork. With the knife, he put a bit of rice onto the fork, dipped the whole thing into the sauce in the corner and lifted it from the plate.

_Disgusting._ The fork got closer to his mouth. _Slimy._ He opened it a little, painfully aware that Crys was watching his every movement. _Fishy._ Seriously, couldn't she look away? _Just outright horrible._ He put the fork into his mouth. He pulled the shrimp out with his teeth and bit it. _Just…_

…_Not that bad?_ Hey, it didn't taste at all slimy. It had a fuller, more solid structure and taste than he had remembered.

Actually, it was quite good. The shrimp, the rice, the sauce… He chewed for a while and then gulped it all down.

Crys had a most peculiar look on her face, something between amusement and curiosity. "Well?"

Silver looked at the plate. Then he speared another shrimp with the fork. "Well what? Aren't you gonna eat? It's getting cold."

Crystal didn't say anything. She just leaned towards her own plate with a small smile that clearly said: 'Oh, Silver, what did I tell you?'

…

'_How was the task? Was it_

_a) a piece of cake_

_b) nothing special, or_

_c) difficult?'_

Nothing special. _I'm sure there're more difficult tasks to come…_

_'What happened?'_

We went to a restaurant, and I ordered the meal number 9 from the annoying waitress. It was shrimps. I ate them. _After a little persuasion, though._

_'How did it make you feel?_'

I thought I didn't like shrimps, but they were alright. We had a good time. _Maybe I should do things like this more often. I wonder what the next task is._

…

A/N: Oh, the complete cheesiness of this one, I know. And I couldn't even resist putting that girlfriend comment in this, though it's a bit too early for those kinds of things. But maybe the cheesy stuff just belongs to this story… Anyway, there are better chapters (and tasks) to come, I promise. 'Til next time!

Oh, and don't think anything cute about that blush of Silver's! It's not like he has some secret, unrecognized feelings for Crys, at least at this point. He's just blushing pretty often, really.


	4. Colourful

A/N: Now _that_ was a long break. Sorry for that. It's just that I have been very busy with all kinds of school stuff and other things… but then I noticed that Black and White just came out, and for that I wanted to make a little revive-attempt here. Let's just see how it goes!

Chapter IV: Colourful

"No."

"Yes."

"_No._"

"Yes."

"No!"

Crystal looked at the boy with that obey-me-you-little-orphan-kid expression again. "Silver, you promised."

The boy sighed. Apparently the girl had peeked at the next chapter somewhere between food and dessert in the restaurant yesterday and thought that he'd need help with this one.

"I'm sure it'll look just nice on you." She said with kinder tone now, waving a bight yellow t-shirt in front of him.

Yeah, it was the time for the third task today. And Silver already regretted having promised to continue this farce. After that nice little dinner in the restaurant he had even been slightly looking forward to the next task. Oh, how wrong had he been.

'_Chapter 3: Wear a colour you'd never wear._

_If you look around, you surely notice that everything has its own, unique colour. Today's Jewel is about finding your own true colour. For starters, let's find a piece of clothing in a colour you would usually never even consider wearing, and – well, isn't it obvious – wear it. And to take it off you must wait till sunset, no matter how uncomfortable you feel. The catch here is to understand that every colour and shade is beautiful in their own way. Surprising, isn't it?_'

Well, generally speaking, Silver had nothing against trying on something with a little different colour, although he never wore anything but dark clothes – the truth was that he'd been expecting something more devilish, especially after yesterday had been so nice. But there was this one little thing.

Of all the days that existed in the universe, it just had to be this one.

"Hurry up, or we'll be late for the Dex Holders' meeting!"

Yup, the meeting. _Just kill me now._

There was no way he could go there and confront everyone wearing something unusual. And image appeared into his mind. Silence, staring faces, an awkward cough, and then… Gold would burst into boisterous laughter. Silver shuddered.

"Well?" _Oh, right_. Crys was still there.

Silver took a long breath and said with the most final tone he had, "No, Crys. I'm not wearing that. I don't wa–"

"Put it on, and then we'd better go. Although it's not that far, it still takes some time to get to Pallet." The girl totally ignored him and just placed the yellow bundle of cloth into his hands with a bright smile. Depressed, Silver wondered if there was anyone in this world who took his words or actions seriously anymore.

"Look, you don't have to be such a wimp about it." Crys looked like she was finally losing her patience. "It's kind of easier to you, because one: almost any colour'll do 'cause I doubt that there is anything but black in that wardrobe of yours." She gestured at the closet behind his back. _Well, I _do _have at least one blue shirt… maybe?_ "And two: I bought that for you so you don't even have to decide the colour on your own or anything!"

Silver looked down at the shirt for a long time, and then up, at the girl.

"Fine. I didn't want to do this, but... Get out."

"Wha–?" Crystal looked like someone who had been hit in the head with something extremely heavy. Or someone who had run into a glass wall. Something like that.

Silver huffed impatiently and lifted the yellow shirt a bit. "I can't change if you're looking, can I?"

"Oh… yeah, I'll just… wait outside, then…"

_It's just a shirt… One yellow t-shirt… _The hell with the meeting, he thought while pulling his old – and surprisingly, black – t-shirt over his head. The hell with Gold. Crys was right. She had gone through the trouble by buying the shirt for him. He could at least wear it, right?

He still wasn't sure how exactly this was helping him to 'find his own true colours' or anything for that matter.

"I knew it! It looks great on you!" Crys' voice was glad, triumphant even. "And it goes well with your hair."

"…Right. Aren't we late or something?" Silver said gloomily, walking quickly past the girl so that she wouldn't notice his reddening cheeks. _Damn you, blood! Get away from my face! Why do I always have to be blushing?_

…

It was just like he had thought. Just why couldn't the cool, light-gray lab floor of Prof. Oak's just swallow him whole?

After Gold had calmed down, he,_ that bastard_, asked irritatingly matter-of-factly, "What's with the shirt, Silv?"

"It was the only clean one, so shut up", Silver muttered a quick lie, and took his place next to Green, who immediately made a thumbs-up and mouthed, "_You look great!_"

Ignoring this, as well as everyone else's curious gaze, Silver decided to hide his red face by focusing his eyes down on the plain white table in front of him. He was very grateful when that strange girl with fangs – Sapphire or something – opened her mouth.

"Could we get this over with, then? Me and Ruby, we have a tight schedule, ya know."

The boy with the beanie, Ruby, looked a little embarrassed, but didn't say anything. Instead, a lanky blonde boy, a friend of that beret kid from the Christmas party – who looked like he was asleep, by the way – agreed and punched his fist at the table impatiently. Oh, the kids nowadays.

A dark-haired girl sitting next up hissed them to be quiet and looked at Professor Oak, who was sitting at the end of the table. He cleared his throat.

"Hello, everyone. The reason that I called you all here today, is… Yes, Red?"

The black-haired teenager stood up and looked around as merrily as ever. "Haha, I just wanted to say that I, um, finally completed my pokédex, everyone!"

This caused some giggling in the rest of them. Green leaned over and playfully punched him in the elbow, and Yellow looked at him her face filled with admiration. "Took you long enough…" Silver heard Blue mumbling. He gave a glance at Crys, whom he knew to have completed her pokédex for at least four times already. She didn't notice, as she was in the middle of trying to flatten Rald's hair. That didn't have much effect, though.

"Yes, very good, Red", Professor smiled. "But back to the subject. I have an important announcement to make." Everyone turned their attention to the old man – except the sleeping boy.

"As you all know, there are thirteen of you Pokédex Holders. But after some time, in the region of Unova, there will be a couple of more."

Everyone looked at him with more or less surprised expressions. Questions were asked, but Professor just raised his hand. "That's all we know at this rate, so please, be quiet! My colleague, Prof. Juniper, has currently three pokédexes in her possession, and she will decide the new holders."

"And we were called here only to hear that? Aww, man… That's just a waste of time!" _Seriously, what was with that blonde kid?_

The girl from earlier calmed him down again. "But Pearl, it's interesting to have new Pokédex Holders, don't you think?"

Silver frowned. From what he had heard, Unova was pretty far away. So it didn't really concern him in any way. Just a couple of more kids? He looked the people around the table. Green, Crys, Gold, that Pearl-kid, Emerald… He wondered if the new ones would have the same kind of colour-related names too.

Colours… Why did it ring a bell?

Then he remembered, and got depressed again. Yeah, the shirt disaster. Well, apparently everyone had gotten past that already. But what was with that true-colours stuff?

Crys seemed pretty interested in that Unova place as she had fallen into a lively conversation with Professor. _Of course_, Silver thought, _why wouldn't she be interested in a place with even more pokémon for her to catch?_ Her eyes were like sparkling crystals as she eagerly looked at some report of discovered pokémon the man gave to her.

Silver turned his head a little and noticed that Green was harassing Blue again. They were also just like the colours, he thought. The girl lively and full of energy, and the boy as calm and cool as water, or the sky.

_The same goes with all of them__, I guess_. Red might seem an easy-going lad, but inside him there was strong passion, just like a bright red flame. Yellow was always so happy and positive like the yellow sun. And Gold… Despite that enormous ego and the rash actions, deep down – and Silver hated to admit it – he had a golden heart.

'_Every colour is beautiful in their own way..._'

Just then his chain of thought was interrupted by someone poking him on the shoulder. With… a billiard cue?

_Speaking of the devil, huh._

"Yo! Earth to Silver! We're leaving, slowpoke!"

Silver grunted at the boy and stood up. _Okay, I'll take it back. It suits him because he is egoistic enough to carry the name of that precious a metal…_

…

Silver was walking alone down the road back to Viridian. After some more friendly chatting outside, everyone had gone to their own directions. The sun was almost setting already.

Everybody had their own colours. But what about himself? Green had given him the name Silver because of his cold, gray eyes behind that hated mask when he was but a small boy. Did it really describe him?

"Ugh, I'm getting a headache…" he mumbled, rubbing his forehead. "I'll think about it later."

Yeah, who said that he'd have to figure the answer today? He had already worn that shirt. And it was more than enough for one day.

…

'_How was the task? Was it_

_a piece of cake_

_nothing special, or_

_difficult?'_

Nothing special again. _Trust me, that's not all they've got…_

'_What happened?'_

I wore a yellow shirt and went to the Dex Holders' meeting. It was embarrassing. _Gold, just wait for the next time we meet._

'_How did it make you feel?_'

Like I said, embarrassed. _And I got something to think about._

…

A/N: Well… that's how it turned out. I guess it takes some time to get the routine back. And about the gen V stuff, I don't know if I'm gonna put more of those Unova trainers in here... and this story doesn't follow any specific timeline of the manga, so it's not necessarily after HGSS or anything. This fic just floats around in some undefined spacetime...


	5. Magikarp

A/N: Oh man this is slow. Well, my computer and Internet kinda co-messed up things and so on, so that's an excuse for the day. But here's a new – and kinda long, too – chappy for ya, I hope it brings you the same amusement it gave me while writing it. Oh, don't we all just love to irritate poor Silver? But hang in there, you'll have your happy ending someday! And I _will_ end this, mind you. So no worries. Enjoy!

Chapter V: Magikarp

The small forest pond was well-hidden. It was located deep in the monstrous woods of Viridian, surrounded by bushy green elms. Only the small inhabitants of that very same forest – mostly caterpies, weedles and pidgeys – knew that particular pond.

But today the drowsy serenity of the said pond was disturbed. By a loud and very long string of curse words.

Silver had just broken his fishing rod.

"Man, I knew it. Just knew it." _Shouldn't have bought the cheapest rod from that sleazy old fisherman…_ The boy threw the now useless piece of wood into the water, but not before cutting the line with his teeth. _Or, should've stayed at home in the first place._

With a depressed sigh, he sat down on the bank again and put the line into the water. That excuse of a rod hadn't even held up the weight of a single magikarp. So he would have to pull it out of the water with his own arms.

He had barely finished that thought when a faint twitch of the float told him that something was biting the small piece of apple he had put into the hook as a bait. "That'd better be a magikarp…" he mumbled to himself and forcefully jerked the line upwards.

…

Earlier, in the morning, Silver had woken up into a world full of bright daylight. After a night that had been quite restless – and filled with odd, disturbing dreams about running away from a gigantic and laughing face of Gold's that flashed in different colours – he would have gladly slept a little bit longer, but the sunlight flooding into the space made it rather impossible.

So, even grumpier that usual, the boy hopped out of his bed and started his morning routines, snarling by himself and rubbing his eyes.

Eventually he of course came across that certain book, which was on the table, just where he had left it after filling the questions section of the third chapter.

Silver looked at the book warily for a couple of moments – just making sure it wouldn't make any hostile movements or anything – and then shrugged and opened it.

Silver stared at the headline with pure, naked disbelief. _Celebi, the mother of Mew. What?_

'_Chapter 4: Catch a magikarp and sell it._

_What is red, utterly useless and evolves into one of the greatest beasts of our time? That's right, we are talking about magikarp here. Last time we learned to look at things in a different way, but unfortunately many people don't do so. That's why we have to lean on our wit and imaginativeness with this task. So go on out there, capture one of these magnificent creatures and then sell it to someone. You can name the price by yourself, but you can't give the magikarp away for free. Have fun!_'

"'Have fun', huh…" Silver snorted.

Well, wasn't this just nice. Who in their right minds would want a magikarp? What an utter waste of time. And he didn't even have a rod… Head full of complaints, the boy walked outside.

…

The thing that pulled the line was heavier than Silver had expected, but he managed to get it out of the water.

It indeed was a magikarp. _Oh, joy_.

There it was, laying on the grassy bank, flopping its tail helplessly and pitifully, the dull eyes staring into nowhere in particular. That was the creature Silver was about catch, to waste one precious pokéball of his. He shuddered.

The boy's hand reached into his pocket. Should he try and weaken it first? Or would it die if he tried? Anyway, the useless thing looked like it would suffocate any minute now.

"Um, Weavile, go."

The pokémon that materialized looked kind of baffled when it saw the enemy. It turned to look at its owner questionably. "_Wile?_"

Silver felt a bit uneasy. "Uhm, just tackle it, but do it very carefully, understand?"

It looked like Weavile mentally shrugged when it turned to face its – for a lack of a better word – opponent again. Silver watched as his pokémon slowly approached the still-flopping red fish and then poked it with its claw. The fish fainted.

_This is the most embarrassing battle ever_, the boy thought, calling Weavile back and then throwing a pokéball. The ball closed the magikarp inside itself and fell silent. _It didn't even shake. How pathetic._

Okay, the first part was now over. But that only meant that the second – and way harder – part was still ahead of him.

…

And boy, how hard it was. After approximately fifty times asking the same question, "You wanna buy a magikarp?" and the same exact amount of negative answers, glares, chuckles and headshakes, Silver was ready to call it a day.

The bad thing was – although he didn't want to admit that he needed any help – that Crys was working today. Silver was sure that the girl would've had good ideas. She was so damn bright when it came to these kinds of things.

The boy shook his head rapidly. No, he had to focus on the task at hand. She was working, and that was that. _Now I can sell a magikarp or two on my own, it's not a big deal._

He noticed a little girl nearby and got an idea. "Hey, you. Come here."

The girl looked frightened, but nevertheless walked closer. Silver showed him the pokéball. "You want to be a pokémon trainer, right?" _All kids do._ "I could give this to you for anything. Do you have any money with you?"

The girl didn't say a word. She just shook his head very slowly, still looking mortified. Then, she burst out in tears and ran away.

Well, nobody had ever told Silver that he had that kind of effect on little kids. He stood up. There was no point staying still and harassing any more children.

But hey, the book hadn't said the creature had to be sold to an individual. Surely some pet pokémon store or something would pay a little for a magikarp.

…Or not. Three stores later, Silver had come to the conclusion that it was a long lost cause. The last shopkeeper, damn him, had even laughed at the sight of the pokémon.

"Oh, it should be another way around, you know. You should give _me_ money for accepting that thing!"

Then Silver tried a pokémon shelter, but unfortunately they didn't offer any money. And after that, it was very difficult to walk away without the overly-officious pokémon caretakers taking the poor magikarp into custody.

"_Magikarp, the Fish Pokémon. For no reason, it jumps and splashes about, making it easy for predators like pidgeotto to catch it mid-jump._"

Silver closed his pokédex. No useful selling tips there, apparently.

His feet had taken him to a small market square. He peered anxiously at the small crowd circling the few stands. It would have been pointless to rent a stand just to try to sell a magikarp, so he just sat on the edge of a little fountain nearby.

The boy looked at the pokéball laying on his lap. "Just how am I gonna _sell_ you to anyone?"

Suddenly Silver's pokégear rang.

He frowned. Who on Earth would dare to call him at a situation like this? Unless it was…

"Crys?"

The familiar voice was a bit cracked due to a bad connection, and there wasn't a picture at all. Maybe she was somewhere underground or something. "Yes, it's me. I'm still at the lab, but I wanted to call, and… How is it going? The task?"

Silver rolled his eyes a little. She just couldn't wait to hear all about it, could she? But he told her all about it anyway.

"Wow, that sounds a bit, um, difficult…"

"Yeah."

The line was silent for a moment.

"But you know, let's try to come up with some good things about magikarp. I'm sure there're at least some", the girl's voice said.

Silver ruffled his hair. Good? About magikarp? "Like what?"

"Oh, well… they are, umm, red, and –"

The boy scowled at the phone. Red. Honestly.

"And, and…" She stopped, and Silver could hear another voice on the other side. "Yes, in a minute!" Crys called out to that other person.

"Crys?" Silver asked again.

"Yeah, listen. I gotta go, Professor needs help."

"Oh."

"I try to think, and I call you later. Bye bye!"

"Bye." Silver closed the pokégear.

He was disappointed. He had thought that for sure Crys had tons of good ideas and some hidden and pivotal knowledge about the species that would make it easy to be sold. But all she had come up with was the colour red.

The boy fiddled with the ball a bit and then released the pokémon. It looked as pathetic as ever, moving its fins up and down on the gloomy grey asphalt. He watched it for a while, until it looked so miserable that he had to grab it and set it into the fountain.

_There you are, just splashing around while I'm wrecking my brain to find you a new home…_It looked immediately happier in the fountain, although the water barely reached to its fins. _That's what the pokédex said, too. And the Jewels book. 'What's red, utterly useless, and evolves into one of the greatest beasts of our time?'_

"Waaaitaminute…"

Beast? Red?

Silver stared at the endless splashing distractedly. Yeah, that just might work.

…

"Holy Moltres, that creature is _huge_!"

"Mommy, Mommy! What _is_ that?"

"I want one!"

_Just as__ I thought._ Silver patted the big red scales of his unnaturally coloured gyarados, feeling a little nervous. It had attracted a nice little crowd of admiring bystanders.

"Excuse me, my boy. Ahem, excuse me!"

Silver turned his head towards the voice and hoped that his face wouldn't feel so flushed. He wasn't actually that used to standing in the middle of a crowd, as the center of everyone's attention.

The voice belonged to a middle-aged man with excited face and a fat wallet in his hands. "Can you sell that wonderful creature to me? I'll pay anything! Just name the prize!"

"And I'll pay twice that much!" A couple of other people nodded eagerly behind his back and gathered even closer. Silver turned back to the gyarados. "No. Um, this one's not for sale."

There were voices of disappointment from the crowd. "But", the boy continued, raising his voice a little, "I have something else."

He nodded at the gyarados, who moved a little, revealing the small fountain, where the magikarp still was. The crowd gawked at the sight. "_That?_"

Silver nodded solemly. "That, everybody, is called _potential_."

_If they're really buying all this, I'll become a salesman when I grow up…_ Silver thought as he pointed at the red gyarados again. "This one was once just as small, but look at it now."

Well, no-one had left yet. They were all under the spell of the giant sea monster, which only looked back at them docilely. Silver's cheeks didn't feel so hot anymore.

"But – isn't that one going to evolve into a blue one?" asked a timid-looking boy.

Silver didn't even think about what he was saying. "What's wrong with blue? It's a fine colour! One of my favourites. But what I'm saying is that this little magikarp here" – a nod at the fish – "blue, red, or even green, it will one day become one of the greatest beasts of our time, and for that, it needs your help. Look at it. Just look. Doesn't it look like it wants to become stronger?"

Silver himself wasn't so sure, but the people seemed to see something in the poor fish's eyes that he didn't.

"Yeah! Look at that!"

"It's kind of sympathetic, don't you think?"

"I _want_ one!"

And the next thing Silver knew was that the people were crowding around him, offering their money. _Oh, the stupidity of people._

Or was it stupidity? Did they really see something in that small, miserable magikarp? Potential?

_Anyway, I'm definitely going to be a salesman one day._

…

'_How was the task? Was it_

_a piece of cake_

_nothing special, or_

_difficult?'_

Difficult. _The sun was already setting when I walked to my hideout. What a day...  
_

'_What happened?'_

The catching part was easy, but only after a very long time I managed to sell the magikarp using my Gyarados as an example. _I sold it to that little boy, because he looked like he'd take good care of it. Not that I'm telling that to anyone, though._

'_How did it make you feel?_'

Okay, I guess. _It was… fun to talk to all those people. It really was._


	6. Child's Play

A/N: Uh, let's just ignore the fact that in the last chapter Silver kinda tricked some ten-year-old into buying a magikarp. And let's just say it'll become a fine gyarados one day, and the little boy will own all the battles and will make it to the Pokémon League and.. yeah. Oh, and thank you all so much for your inspiring reviews. They really do make me want to write more! But I'm still a hopeless slacker. (And… ahem… I should be studying maths.)

Chapter VI: Child's Play

A loud ringing sound cut the air in a certain little hideout. A red-haired boy jumped out of his bed and started to quickly rummage through his clothes of yesterday, which were in a messy bundle on the floor. Finally he found what he was looking for, from the left pocket of his pants. It took a while for him to get the device open, but when he did, the ear-splitting sound stopped.

"Mmph, yeah?" he asked, still half-asleep.

A picture materialized on the screen. Pointy pigtails and a suddenly embarrassed face.

"Hi, Silver. I- I hope I didn't wake you up!"

Silver hastily tried to flatten his hair. "No, 'course not", he muttered and sat a little straighter.

"Ah, good. I meant to call you last night but, uh, I had so much work to do…"

_Yeah, that's the usual Crys_, Silver thought, swallowing a big yawn. _First she gets so buried under the work that she forgets to call, and then she calls when other people are still sleeping_.

"Are you working today too?" Silver asked.

"Professor's travelling to Hoenn tonight, and he said that I can have two or three days off", she said, sounding way too disappointed. "But that's why I came here very early this morning! To help him pack his research material he'd otherwise forget!"

Silver didn't even want to know how early that was.

Next, she asked about the magikarp challenge, and Silver explained the best he could in his partly sleeping state.

"To use the red gyarados, wow! That's clever", she said after the boy had finished. "I would've never even thought about that… Hey, have you already checked the next mission?"

"Wait a sec." Silver dug the pile of clothes again, until he found the book. "Okay, chapter 5…"

'_Chapter 5: Ring the doorbell and run away._

_After the hard work we did last time, now's the time to have some fun! Have you ever heard of a merry little game in which you have to ring someone's doorbell and then run away and hide before that someone comes to open the door? Well, now you have. It is a common pastime among the younger people (read: little children), and a constant nuisance among the older folks (read: angry house owners). Thousands of kids cannot possibly be wrong. Why not try it out? So take your friends with you and conquer the town! You must ring 30 doorbells before the night falls. We don't want to disturb anyone's evening rest, do we?_'

"…Right." Silver had to read the text a couple of times before any of it got registered. "Something about ringing people's doorbells and… running away?"

To Silver it didn't ring a bell – no pun intended – but there was an excited sound from the phone. "Hey, I remember that game! I used to play it when I was little!"

_Oh?_ It was hard to imagine Crys doing something so… childish. She was usually so strict. _Super-serious gal_. Silver shook the thought off.

"So you're coming with me? It says something about bringing friends along."

"Well, I have the day off, and… Yeah, why not!"

"Great." Silver clicked the phone off and dived back into his bed.

…

After a couple of hours' continuation of his interrupted sleep and then a couple of more hours' waiting for Crys' call, Silver stood at the front door of Professor Oak's laboratory and watched the man running around, collecting forgotten papers and binders. And Crystal, who was running after the professor and trying to remind him about the things he had to remember while being away.

"I'm late! Crystal, where did I put the report on the theory of pokémon mind? And what's the time?"

"It's nearly half past already. And you packed the report just a minute ago!"

"Ah, yes, yes! And what about the… oh, never mind! Ask Daisy to send everything I have forgotten, will you?" Oak closed his suitcase and walked towards the door. Then he noticed Silver. "Hello there, Silver. Oh no, did we have a meeting arranged? You see, I'm in a terrible hurry –"

"No, no! He's here because of me!" Crys called out. "And you have to go or you'll be late!"

After a final nod and a wave, Oak was gone. Crys leaned on the desk, swiping her forehead. "I really hope he'll be alright. He can be really absent-minded sometimes…" she muttered, but then her eyes brightened. "But let's get going!"

There was a brief contemplating of the alternatives, and finally they decided to stay in Pallet, although Silver didn't want to run into someone they knew, and although he doubted that there'd even be enough houses.

And so they were standing very innocently before a small, one-storey house with white walls and a little garden. "You ready?" Crys asked. Silver eyed the surroundings to see if there was someone who could see them. There wasn't.

They walked to the door, and after an encouraging nod from Crys, Silver reached his arm and placed his finger on the small button on the wall. He was slightly nervous about what would happen, but pressed it nevertheless. It let out a pleasant, soft ring.

"So now we –"

"_Run!_"

Silver felt a rush of adrenaline. Crys grabbed his hand and they ran as fast as they could to the shadows of nearby bushes.

Right after Silver had hopped behind the bushes, he heard a sound of an opening door. Anxiously, and his heart racing, he peered through the leaves.

"Who's there?" It was a man's voice. Then there was a head sticking out the door, glancing around. Silver lowered his head a little more and prayed that his red hair would blend into the green leaves just this once.

Apparently this wasn't the first time the man had visitors like this, as he shouted, "Damn brats! If I ever catch you, you'll regret it!" Then the head disappeared and the door slammed shut.

Crys started to giggle at his side. And to his surprise, soon he was laughing too. Okay, now he could understand why Crys had been so excited about the game. And the situation was just too funny to take seriously. The two of them, noble and responsible pokédex holders – and Crys and him of all people – sitting in the middle of some bushes and watching someone open the door, and then laughing like crazy. Just like little kids. Just like _normal_ little kids.

"Oh, that was fun", Crys said after they had calmed down.

"Hm. So, only 29 to go, then."

Next, they chose a similar-looking white house next to it. The reaction was almost the same, but this time the victim was a woman. And it was funny as hell, just like the first one. And before Silver even noticed, they had gone through almost the whole street.

"Okay, which one's next?" Silver asked, leaning on a tree and still panting a little. The last one had been quite a close call.

"That one", Crys said with a mischievous grin and pointed at some house. _Mew, what have I done to that poor innocent girl?_ Silver thought. Crys was usually so responsible and modest and did everything by the book. It was almost scary how much she seemed to enjoy this.

_Oh, well. Not that I'm not having fun myself_, he thought as they sneaked towards the next door. And besides, he was sure this was good for her. Just to get her loosen up a little, you know, to relieve the constant stress. And to spend a little time outdoors, away from the lab.

They dived behind a couple of trash cans. An angry shout followed. Crys snickered.

They kept going through the town like that. It was at number 11 when Silver almost got caught by an angry householder who sicced his even angrier pet granbull after him. And at the 16th house some tiny granny just stood there for ages, shouting, "I know you are there!" She didn't leave until his husband came to take her back inside.

The only time Silver opposed sharply was when they came across Red's house. There was no way he'd make a fool of himself in front of that guy. Red was too close to Green, and Silver didn't want her to know what he was doing. Who knows how much teasing that would cause.

When they had reached the mark of twenty houses, Crys suggested they'd take a break. Silver agreed gladly.

"Getting bored already?" he asked when they were sitting on the grass somewhere in the depths of Pallet Town.

"Ah, no, no!" Crystal said and bit the sandwich she had bought from a nice little store nearby. "But I didn't know it could be that exhausting", she then admitted, her eyes wide shut.

Silver yawned and lay down on the grass.

He looked at her secretly. Yeah, being outdoors was definitely a good thing for her. However tiring the game was, she didn't look just as pale as normally. And she really seemed to be having fun, constantly laughing and stuff. And there was even that new rosy glow on her cheeks… _What on earth am I thinking? Her cheeks?_ He shook his head. _I really must be tired._

"It's definitely harder than in the childhood, don't you think?" the girl laughed.

Silver's face fell a bit. Yeah, he wouldn't know. After all, his childhood had not been, well, your average one.

Crys seemed to notice her mistake, as she suddenly stopped laughing and looked at the boy with an odd expression. Silver couldn't quite tell what it was.

They didn't talk about it anymore. Crys changed the subject to their pokémon, and the rest of the break went as she told him about the latest pokémon she had caught for the research. As she spoke about them, Silver could distinct that certain sparkle in her eyes again.

After the pause they carried on, and eventually reached the 29th house. But after that they were facing a major problem.

"There're no houses left", Silver said, frowning. "Don't tell me there are only 29 houses in this damned village!"

_Typical. Just typical. _They were walking to Oak's lab's direction again. The day had gone surprisingly fast. It wasn't dark yet, but the sun was definitely not far from setting. _Just why couldn't there be one more house? Just one mo– _"Oh, no. Not that one!"

Crys had suddenly exclaimed and sprinted a couple of steps forward. And now she was standing in front of –

"Red's house. Really?" Just his luck. If his wishes somehow got answered, there was always something wrong. _If just Red happened to live somewhere else, there'd be just some random family there. But no._

"Oh, come on. It'll be just fine!" Crys argued. "And besides, we haven't got that much time left."

But Silver could always take his honchcrow and fly to Viridian in a couple of minutes. Or better yet, they could use Crys' arcanine – they are fast runners – and…

"Fine. If you won't, I will!"

_Wait, what?_ "No! What are you – hey, wait up!" Silver whispered as Crys hopped over the neat-looking white fence that separated Red's garden from the rest of the world. He had no choice but to follow.

"Don't worry", Crys said smiling. "This is the last one, nothing can go wrong!"

_Oh, but it can, Crys. It always can._

"Okay, are you ready?" she asked. Silver said nothing. Crys rang the bell.

They climbed over the fence again as fast as they could and then jumped into a large lilac bush that was growing next to it. And then, they waited.

_Maybe he's not even home_, Silver thought hopefully. But just then the guy opened the door and looked outside. Silver noticed that Pika was standing on his shoulder. "Huh? Anybody there? Hello?"

Red looked cluelessly at Pika, who was sniffing the air. "But you heard it too. Right, buddy?"

The next thing that happened made Silver's heart nearly stop. The pokémon suddenly lifted his head and seemed to sense something. Then it hopped off his master's shoulder and started to scuttle right towards the bush Silver and Crys were hiding.

_Oh, crap, crap, crap, crap! Not here! _Silver tried to shoo the pokémon telephatically but it didn't work. He looked at Crys, who looked back her eyes wide open. _Oh, nothing can go wrong, huh?_

"What is it, Pika? Do you see something?" Oh, man. Now Red was also approaching the bush. But Pika made it first, and hopped right in front of them with a delighted expression. "Pika!" it exclaimed in a happy manner.

"Is it a friend? Let me see!"

Suddenly there was Red's face inside the bush. Silver gulped and wished he had the ability to turn invisible.

"Oh, hi! It's you guys!" Red's face was full of pure joy of finding his friends suddenly in a bush.

Pika was nuzzling against Crys' leg. Silver swore he could die right there. Of embarrassment. _That's a way to die, isn't it?_

"Um", Red started, ruffling his hair. _Great. Now, the inevitable question._ Silver braced himself. "You guys didn't happen to see someone just now? There was someone ringing my doorbell..."

Silver thought he must have misheard him. Crys' jaw had almost dropped on the ground. _Holy moltres, and articuno, and zapdos too, how clueless can that guy get?_

Silver somehow managed to shake his head. "Isn't this a mystery…" Red looked thoughtfully around. "Hey! Since you're here, would you like to come in?" he asked with a suddenly brightened face.

"Well, uh, I really gotta…" Silver stammered, still recovering the shock. But Crys seemed to be alright again, as she said at the same time, "Oh, yes! We'd love to!"

"Great! Do you want anything? Coffee? Tea? And I've got a cake too!"

And so Silver found himself walking inside with Crys and Red, who was still babbling on.

"This still counts as one, right?" Silver whispered to Crys.

She let out a small giggle. "Definitely."

…

'_How was the task? Was it_

_a) a piece of cake_

_b) nothing special, or_

_c) difficult?'_

Hm. Nothing special. _I'm still thinking about that magikarp thing. And compared to that, well…_

'_What happened?'_

Me and Crys were at Pallet Town, and we rang all the doorbells there. _And then we sat in Red's living room and had some tea and cake. But seriously, I'd surely be at least a little taken aback if I found for example him and Yellow in some bush._

'_How did it make you feel?_'

I… had a good day. With Crys. _Why am I smiling? Go away, smile!  
_

…

A/N: This sounded better in my head (Don't they always?), but although I got bored somewhere there, I like the ending. And I wanted to give you a chapter where those two spend a little time together. Lol dunno why Red has a whole cake there, though. But hey, now I'll definitely write sooner! Oh, you ask why? Because it's summer holidays soon, people!


	7. Girly

A/N: Hey look, it's a new chapter! Yup, believe your eyes!

Chapter VII: Girly

Silver had agreed to meet up with Crys again today so that they could complete the next mission together. He had woken up fairly early, and so he was up and ready when the phone rang.

"Crys, hi. Where are y–? Airport?" … "To Unova? That's – " … "Yeah, it's – it's fine. When are you coming back?" … "I see." … "Bye."

_Click._

Next, Silver had a sudden urge to throw his pokégear straight into the wall.

But he didn't. Altogether gloomy and annoyed, he sat down and opened the Special Jewels for Life.

'_Chapter 6: Take a bath in someone else's bathtub._

_Life is hurried and stressful nowadays, and that's why we all need to find ways to relax. If you ask me, the best way is to take a nice little – or not so little – bath in a comfortable place, with soothing music playing in the background, candles and, of course, bubbles. The commonly known truth is that you have to appreciate your body, so that it can appreciate you. Go on, take a little time for just yourself, and yourself only. But to make things more interesting, it cannot be your own bathtub. No, you have to get into another person's bathtub, one way or another. Don't forget the candles and music. Good luck!_'

"Wow, that's…" Silver shuddered, forgetting his previous irritation and replacing it with bare dislike. _Girly._

The next problem was, however, to find a bathtub. Silver was sure Crys would've been willing to help him. If she even had a bathtub. Silver wouldn't know.

The boy sat still for a long time. It wouldn't be a problem for him to break into someone's house. He had done it many times before, when he was – let's say – a little less caring about rules and laws and things like that. But it could be somewhat _embarassing_ if the owner happened to walk in when he was in that person's bathtub… And besides, he was sure Crys wouldn't approve.

_Wait, why do I think about what she would say? How annoying._

Shaking the girl out of his mind, Silver fixed his eyes to the rugged mat that was on the floor. "Where could I…?"

The thought left hanging in the air, and the boy blinked.

Yeah, there was someone who definitely had a bathtub. And candles and bubbles and music. Everything.

Silver shuddered again.

"But do I really have to call _her_?"

…

"_SILVER!_ It _is _you!"

The boy's feet had barely touched the ground before he felt a pair of strangling arms apparently trying to crush his ribs.

"Oh, I'm _so happy_ you came over! I have been asking you to for _ages_!"

Honchcrow landed before Silver and was now passively observing the situation. In the corner of his eye, Silver was sure to have noticed the bird roll its eyes, as if thinking, "_Humans…_"

The arms were squeezing the boy even harder. "Green… I can't… breathe…"

"Oh? Sorry!" The brown-haired girl stepped back and Silver felt the air finally returning to his lungs. Gasping a bit and massaging his aching throat, he returned Honchcrow to its pokéball.

"Sorry for coming here in such short notice. You must be busy…" he started, but Green just waved her hand.

"That's okay, of course I have time for you! And besides, I've been _dying_ to show someone my new living room and Blue just keeps ignoring my invitations. I wonder why…"

Silver could easily imagine the reason for Blue's reluctance.

"But anyway", Green continued as she started to drag Silver along the road, "What do you think of Sevii Islands? There're so many lovely places here, I could show you around –"

"Uhm, actually", Silver stammered. _Let's get this over with…_ "The journey was quite long, and I was wondering if…"

Green looked at him. "Yes?"

"If I could, uh…" He felt his cheeks turn red. "…Takeabathorsomething."

"A bath? Oh, of course you can! Sorry, I didn't realize. This way, I live just around the corner!"

She was eyeing him a little differently, Silver was sure. _Well, what did you expect?_ Altogether, he continued walking, trying to look like a bath was the most natural thing for him to ask.

And so, after following Green to her house – which he had already seen in many pictures she had sent – and an excrusiatingly long tour around the apartment, and a very detailed lecture of the shade of Green's new curtains, Silver was standing at the door to the most pink bathroom he had ever seen.

"Take as long as you like! I'll be in the kitchen if you need something." Green gave him a smile and pushed the poor boy inside.

The door closed and Silver felt like he was trapped inside a large luvdisc. Or a ditto. Or something.

The floor was pink and it was partly covered with a pink, furry mat. The walls were pink, with small mew designs on the ceramic tiles. There was a pile of pink towels, and in the middle of it all there was the bathtub, which was also painted pink.

_Girly. _Silver shuddered again. _Just… too… girly._

Slowly and hesitantly, he neared the bathtub as if it might swallow him whole if he got any closer. Of course it remained perfectly still, and the boy just shrugged and turned the tap open.

It took quite a long time for the tub to fill up completely, and the boy spent the time examining lazily the tiny – also mainly pink – bottles that were placed on a small shelf next to the bathtub. As he had thought, there were even candles and a small radio, which, when Silver switched it open, started to play the tunes of soothing pokémon lullabies.

"If only Gold could see me now", he thought depressedly, lighting some of the candles and feeling _very_ unmanly. "I don't think he'd ever let me forget this…"

He switched off the lamps and the room fell dim with only the soft, orange candle light illuminating the room. Everything was ready. "But on the other hand", he thought a little more hopefully, "he just might die of laughter."

With the deepest feeling of embarrassment, Silver undressed quickly and got into the bathtub.

_I'll be here just a minute, and then maybe I'll challenge Green into a pokémon battle, or do something else… Anything's fine as long as it's manlier than this._

There he was, sitting in a bathtub and feeling dumb. He wondered what he should do next. The candles were lit and the music played in the background. The pink stuff Silver had poured into the tub had created bubbles that floated on the surface of the water. It felt warm.

"And this is supposed to be relaxing…" He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Although… the bubbles have a kind of nice smell", he thought and took another deep breath. "Like some sort of flower or something. Is it lavender? Or rose?"

The music flowed into the boy's ears and the soft candle light glowed through his closed eyelids. Well, maybe it _was_ soothing, in its own way. He inhaled more of the pleasant flower scent. The water felt like it was hugging his entire body, enclosing him into its warmth. Silver was beginning to get drowsy.

"Well, I told Green the truth, the journey was quite long and tiring. And the whole week has been so stressing… I'll lie here just… a bit longer…" the boy thought sleepily.

He was in a field of blossoming flowers that gave out a pleasant, soothing scent. Crystal was laughing happily at his side.

"I'm so glad you came along, Silver!" she said and smiled.

"So this is Unova", he said and looked around.

She nodded. "It's beautiful, isn't it? And there are lots of interesting pokémon here, too. Come on!" She grabbed his hand and they ran across the field. Together they saw many new kinds of creatures, and Crys pointed at them and told him their incomprehensible names. And Silver felt so happy and content…

"Silver? You'd better not be thinking about girls in there! I'm coming in!"

Silver snapped out of the dream. And froze. "Hu–? Wha–?"

"What in the Mew's –"

Bright light flowed into the room from the open door. And there was a black figure right in the doorway. And it looked very familiar.

"Green? Gah! Go away! I'm _naked_!"

"Aagh! Sorry sorry sorry!" the girl yelled panickingly and slammed the door shut.

Silver was back in the dim candle light.

"I'm so sorry! But you have been there almost two hours, and I wanted to check if everything's okay…" Green said behind the door. "But, ahem, I'll be in the kitchen then…"

Silver seriously considered the possibility of drowning himself in the flower-smelling tub.

_That's it. My life is over._

…

'_How was the task? Was it_

_a) piece of cake_

_b) __nothing special, or_

_c) __difficult?'_

Nothing special. _It's best to answer these questions before I leave the bathroom. Who knows what'll happen. Maybe I'll drop dead for mere embarrassment._

'_What happened?'_

I took a bath in Green's bathroom. End of story. _I don't want to think about it…_

'_How did it make you feel?_'

Very unmanly. _But kind of relaxed too… right until the point where she stormed in._

…

A/N: What will happen to poor Silver? To be continued, hehe. And thanksie for all your nice reviews!

P.S. And thank you, Crystal Bluebell, for pointing out the grammatical mistakes! Usually I'm a little more careful and thorough with these kinds of things :)


	8. Honesty is a Virtue

A/N: I wonder if there are people who still remember this fic.

Chapter VIII: Honesty is a Virtue

That day, Silver woke up in a bed that wasn't his own.

Rubbing the sleep off his eyes, he looked around in a pleasantly decorated little room and tried to remember what course of events had brought him here.

_Oh, right._

It was, of course, Green's guest room. The embarrassing memories from yesterday flowed into the poor boy's mind and made him want to forget everything again straight away.

Now what had been the worst part again? That when Green had opened the bathroom door? Or that when he had had to walk to the kitchen to face her again? Or maybe that when she had taken a sip of her tea and casually remarked that he smelled really nice and flowery.

Silver pulled the blanket over his head and cursed his miserable life.

He had in fact challenged Green into a pokémon battle later that day, but since he had had some difficulties in concentrating fully, _needless to say why_, he had lost horribly. The girl had then announced that he looked a little tired and it was best if he stayed for the night. Silver had acted along and slipped into the guest room as early as possible to avoid any further questions.

The boy sighed and got up. It was no use in trying to sleep any longer, especially now when all those embarrassing things were occupying his mind.

Already from the force of habit, he took the Jewels and opened it.

From left to right, his eyes followed the lines on the page. Then they stopped and his expression fell.

'_Chapter 7: Don't tell lies for one day._

_Today it is all about honesty, and as the saying goes, honesty is a virtue. Today, let's try to make the world a little better place by only telling the truth! That's right – you can't tell a single lie to anybody today. No big lies, no small lies. No white lies, no colourful lies. Nothing. If someone asks you a question, you have to tell them the truth, no matter what. Maybe you will come to notice that being honest can in fact be really rewarding. Good luck!_'

Silver felt like a giant amount of stone-cold ice had just been teleported into his stomach. With his current location taken into account, the mission would be difficult.

No. It would be _dangerous_.

Silver gulped. He had to get out of Green's house as soon as possible.

…

The door creaked a little as the boy peeked into the hallway. It was empty. _Good._ He sneaked past the dark room towards the kitchen. In passing, he glanced at the closed door to Green's room and hoped that the girl was still sound asleep.

The boy reached the kitchen door and opened it.

The lights were off there, too. He let out a sigh of relief and stepped towards the back door that led into the garden. _Phew, I made it._

"Going somewhere?"

Silver jumped.

Green was standing behind him at the kitchen door in her pajamas, one eyebrow raised and hands on her hips. Silver felt like he was suddenly shrinking.

"I heard you sneaking around the house so I followed you. What're you doing?"

"Eh…" His face as red as the scales of his beloved gyarados, the boy searched through his brain for a suitable excuse, right until he remembered the mission. _Damn, I can't lie!_

"I… I was going home", he finally said. _That's the truth, isn't it?_

The girl's hands dropped onto sides and she looked confused. "At this hour? I thought you were going to spend a little more time here. You haven't even seen the island properly!"

Silver nodded and tried to look disappointed. _Okay, it's not all lost yet. I'll get out of here._

"It would've been so much fun to show you around and all…" Green said, frowning. Silver kept nodding eagerly. _Well, maybe some other time. Now I'm outta he–_

"Do you really have something more important to do today? Couldn't you stay?"

_Crap._

"Uh..." The truth, of course, was that he didn't have anything planned today. _Gah! What can I say? _"Well…"

The girl looked at him. There wasn't a way out.

"Well, why not", he finally managed to say. "I'll stay."

The obvious victory in the girl's eyes made Silver almost shiver in horror. "Cool! Now, what do you want for breakfast?"

…

After a couple of hours' attempt of survival in the claws of his lovely almost-sister, Silver was more than done. _Dear Celebi, how many innocent little questions can that girl slip in an everyday conversation?_

Luckily, he had managed to distract her from the most difficult ones, and she hadn't even mentioned yesterday in any way. Yet, that was.

After breakfast, she had dragged him for a 'little' sightseeing trip through the island.

"…And this is the south beach. Amazing, huh? I have to say, this is my favourite of them all, 'cause, you know, that last one has a better view, with the other islands and all, but this one is more peaceful, and…"

Silver turned his head to see where Green was now motioning towards, and tried to look interested. To him, this bit of strand looked just like the other piles of sand circling the island. He swallowed a deep sigh and a roll of eyes.

"But now that we've been walking around all day, we might as well take a little break here!" Green announced.

He shrugged his approval and so they sat down on the warm, sunburnt sand. Green took two juice boxes out of the small bag she was carrying and gave one to him.

"So, Silver…" the girl said, gazing sharply at him. Silver didn't like her tone. _At all_.

"What?" he asked, sipping his juice with what he hoped was a casual manner.

A small smirk made its way to her lips. _A bad sign_, Silver thought, preparing for the worst._ She's going to ask me something about yesterday…_

"You've been with Crystal an awful lot of time lately, or so I've heard."

That was not what Silver had been expecting. "What? With Crys?"

The girl nodded eagerly. "Yes! And so I was wondering…" Her voice trailed away, but not the smirk.

Silver looked at her. _What's this? Why is she suddenly asking something about Crys?_

Now that Silver thought about it, they now _were_ spending time together more than before. Not that they had been that distant before – saving the world together has a habit of bringing people closer, unfortunately that meant Gold as well – but now the two were in contact almost every day. And now that she had gone to Unova, he… well, in some level, he actually missed her company. Odd, although she had only been away for a day, he already missed her.

Silver was a little taken aback by this sudden realization. _So that's why I felt so pissed off when I heard she was leaving... She is an important friend to me._ He hadn't thought before that there was such a bond growing between the two of them.

"Oh, don't doze off, Silver! Do you _like_ her?"

Silver stared at Green dumbly. _What kind of question was that? _"Of course I like her. She's my friend."

Apparently not the answer the girl was waiting for. She opened her mouth, as if wanting to say something, but then just rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him. "Ah, never mind, let's go eat something! You must be starving by now. After all, I've been dragging you around for _hours_!"

As they walked back to the house, Silver ignored Green's detailed – and utterly boring – analysis on the state and colour of her windowsills and thought about Crys and the realization he had made. Well, maybe it wasn't that bad to stay here on the island for the day. Those things he had thought, they were… without a better word, _honest_.

Silver put his hands in his pockets and enjoyed the light breeze of fresh air. Although today's jewel was about not lying to others, the boy felt like he had learned something by being honest with himself. _Or something like that._

"Hey, Green", the boy said. _Maybe this honesty-thing's actually a good thing…_

"… But as I said, they are more like auburn, and not brown – Hm?" The girl stopped in her tracks and turned towards him. "What is it? Not hungry?"

The boy shook his head. "No, but that's not it. Listen, I'm not at all interested in all that girly stuff about decorating and beaches and scenery and such. It's kind of annoying to have to always listen to that."

Green blinked. Then she shrugged. "Oh, yes, I know."

Now it was Silver's turn to blink and stare at the girl blankly. "Wh-what?" She wasn't angry? Even offended?

Green gave a wide smile. "Of course I know you don't care about those things! I was just waiting for you to say something. You're always just grunting and shrugging and rolling your eyes, but not actually asking me to change the subject! It was starting to get a bit tiring, you know."

Silver was at a loss for words. "…What?"

She smirked. "It's always so much fun to tease you! You looked so annoyed all the time!"

The boy didn't know whether to be annoyed or plain angry. Then, he decided to be neither. "Hey, how about a rematch from yesterday?"

"Fine by me!" Green winked and suddenly took a spurt down the road. "But if I win, you'll have to let me pick a pair of new curtains for you!" she then called out.

"Hey! No more decorating my hideouts! Do you hear me, Green? Wait up!"

…

'_How was the task? Was it_

_a) a piece of cake_

_b) nothing special, or_

_c) difficult?_'

Nothing special. _Being honest about things was easier than I'd thought. _

'_What happened?_'

I spent a day with Green, and didn't tell a single lie. _In fact, I told her what was on my mind for once. And the whole thing made me realize something important._

'_How did it make you feel?_'

… _I don't know. Confused? Happy? Yeah, maybe happy.  
_

…

A/N: Hm. Not that great. Could be a lot better. And funnier. I mean, Green's there and all. I didn't really know what to do with this chapter, so I just let it flow, and this is what happened. Uh, I'll write a better one next, 'kay?

P.S. Ack, there was a small and stupid mistake somewhere there. I decided to correct it now that I for once really bothered to check :) I'm already writing the next chappie, so don't go anywhere! (Though it might take a little time since I'm kinda slow. Not with the writing but with the thinking, you know, making sure the story flows just right.)


	9. Pen and Paper

A/N: Since I just skipped two pokémon battles, I promise there'll be another one - interesting and unexpected, of course - soon in the story. And I don't really know if I'm going to give all dex holders a separate chapter or two like Green (probably not), but there'll be tasks where Silver will encounter some of them, naturally. But moving on to the story!

Chapter IX: Pen and Paper

Paper. White, untouched. A pencil hesitantly hovering above it.

Slowly, the pencil is lowered and eventually its tip touches the paper's white surface. It stops there for a while, as if contemplating where to go next. Then, it moves sluggishly downwards – approximately two inches – leaving behind a strong, dark gray line, and stops again.

Silver frowned at the poor, jagged line he had just made. He was not pleased with it.

After a moment or two of angry staring, the boy grabbed an eraser and tried to erase the line. But the effort was a lost cause, since it simply refused to disappear. The boy rubbed the paper harder and harder, getting more and more annoyed, until the paper almost got ripped in two. With a resigned sigh, he crumpled it and tossed it into the small bin under the table.

The reason for all the irritation and headache was, of course, a small book called 'Special Jewels for Life'.

"But how am I supposed to… _I can't_ _draw_!" Silver complained, apparently to the said book, as it was the only notable thing there besides him in the room, lying perfectly still on the table.

"Argh!" the boy grumbled and rubbed his forehead, annoyed. Then he grabbed the book and opened it again, for what seemed to be tenth time already that day.

'_Chapter 8: Draw something you have never seen._

_It has been stated, by some truly wise person, that people who think creatively live longer - and happier. That is why today's Jewel is to learn that skill. Or rather, as every one of us more or less already has that, to give it a small wake-up call. So let's use our imagination and draw something - anything! The only catch here is that the thing you are going to capture on paper's pure white must be something you have never seen in your life. Be it a planet in outer space, a fairy or even the great-grandfather you never met, you can choose, as long as you have to use the depths of your own imagination to make it visible. You can decide for yourself what kind of colours and materials you use: black and white, coloured pencils, crayons or even paint, if you like._'

Nope. Reading the chapter again didn't help. Silver huffed and put the book back. He took a new piece of paper and gazed at it, depressed.

He had never been one to imagine much. Dreams and fantasies, fiction… well, to him, those kind of things had always been sort of nonsense, vanities. He was a guy who preferred reality and facts. _No use in imagining stuff that doesn't exist, as it can't come true anyway._

Not that there was anything _wrong_ with imagining. It was just that Silver didn't know what good could come of it.

The boy leaned on his arm. Apparently just starting to draw without any particular idea didn't work. After he had drawn that single line, it hadn't seemed to fit into anything he could've drawn.

_Except I don't really know what to draw._ It'd be a lot easier if the book had just said, "Draw a house." Or "Draw an image of yourself." Not that it'd do any good, though; he was horrible at drawing people.

The boy sat straight and took the pencil into his hand again. He had even found some dusty old coloured pencils from the drawer, but maybe it was best to start with a plain gray pencil.

_Focus._ What should he draw? Something he had to imagine…

A pokémon? No, maybe not. That was just silly. A place… but what kind of a place? A forest? _Oh, right._ Silver glanced out of the window, realizing it didn't quite qualify as something he had never seen. Uh, what about something that was not from this world? A monster of some kind? Or an alien.

The boy looked at the white paper in front of him. _Okay, an alien it is, then._ He frowned. What are aliens supposed to look like? Don't they have multiple arms and such? An image of a strange creature with three pairs of arms swam into his mind. _I suppose… I could try._

With a strict, focused expression, Silver started drawing.

And, after five minutes or so, he was finished. He leaned back to see the labor of his work.

… _Piece of crap_. The alien – or whatever that thing was – looked nothing like the one he had imagined. The head was too big, the arms kind of wimpy, the body just all wrong. And its posture, which he had tried to make look threatening, looked just… weird. The whole thing was ridiculous.

"Argh!" the boy grunted and ruffled his red hair. Frustrated, he stood up.

The thing had come out entirely different from what he had inteded._ How hard can it be to put a thing from your mind onto a piece of paper?_

Silver sighed and looked around. Maybe he had been indoors for too long.

…

The sun felt warm against the black fabric of Silver's shirt. The small breeze of wind was a fresh welcome after all that time sitting in the table. The boy paid little attention to where his feet were taking him. It didn't really matter_. Feels great to be outside._

Soon he found himself sitting on the edge of a small pond surrounded by tall trees. For a moment he was going to release his pokémon, just so that they could enjoy the nice weather too, until he noticed that this was the very same little pond he had caught that magikarp from. He doubted Weavile wanted to see any more magikarp in a while, so he dropped the thought.

The boy sighed and gazed at the water's still surface. Well, apparently there wasn't any magikarp around this time. Or any other pokémon, for that matter. The whole forest was in the middle of its peaceful afternoon slumber.

It was good to be back here in Viridian. Although the Sevii Islands seemed pleasant enough, he still preferred living in a quiet forest to any island. _Besides, if I lived there, I'd have to see Green every day, and that would be just too exhausting…_

Without him taking notice, Silver's thoughts then took a different direction. _Hm, I wonder if Crys is feeling homesick or anything... I've heard Unova's pretty far away._

Well, maybe 'pretty far' was a small understatement. Apparently you had to take a flight to even get there. The farthest trip Silver himself had ever made had happened against his will, and inside a stone statue. How pitiful.

The boy took out his pokégear and fiddled with it for a moment, deep in thought._ Hm. Should I... call her? Just in case. _But then he put the thought aside, thinking it would be just stupid. And besides, he wasn't sure about the time difference between Kanto and Unova. The last thing he wanted to do was waking her up with no paricular reason. He put the pokégear away.

Anyway, Crys had sounded really excited when she had called from the airport. Apparently Professor Oak, who had been lecturing in Hoenn, had received a call that he was needed overseas, and so he'd asked if Crys wanted to come along. And of course she did.

_Unova must be really something, huh..._ Silver recalled once hearing something about big metropolises there, with huge skyscrapers and wide highways and such. From what he had heard, even Goldenrod – which was already quite big – was nothing compared to the cities there.

"I wonder what it's like to be in a city like that", the boy muttered aloud. Nobody, of course, answered. He closed his eyes and turned his face towards the warm, bright sun.

He pictured a horizon with countless buildings, many of them so high that their tops disappeared into the white clouds…

Suddenly Silver's eyes flew open. Unfortunately, his face was still directed towards the sun, which partly blinded him. Still, the boy got up excited, ignoring the colourful dots now dancing in his eyes._ That's it. Something I have never seen. I'll draw Unova._

…

The journey back to the hideout had passed surprisingly fast, and not before long, Silver was again facing the empty paper, a pencil in his hand. He had swept the pitiful excuse of an alien off the table: it was now lying on the floor, looking even more miserable.

"Right. Here goes…"

Once again, a gray line, hesitantly making its way across the paper. Then another, and third. A rough skeleton of a skyscraper was ready. Some windows and an antenna on the top. _How do you draw an antenna, anyway? Nah, certainly not like that. _Silver erased it and moved on to the next one.

Soon Silver had drawn a whole lot of buildings. _Hm, what else? What does a big city need, apart from skyscrapers?_

A picture of a city square made its way to his mind. You know, like a plaza, with people walking around, chatting and laughing, enjoying the day. There was also a fountain or two, and maybe a café on one corner, full of round little tables and neat chairs.

Without even thinking, the boy had already started sketching the square on the foreground. He added some people sitting in the tables and walking around the plaza, small enough that he didn't have to draw their faces.

The next thing was the sky. Silver wanted his Unova to have a fine day. _Like the weather today: all bright and sunny. Maybe a couple of white clouds._

He drew a round sun, with some beams making their way to different directions, then put some puffy-looking clouds here and there, floating around. And a small airplane flying across the sky, although it didn't turn out that great.

The paper was almost full already. But still, something was missing.

Silver looked out through the window, at the trees. He wondered if those cities in Unova had any plants and trees growing around. There were at least a couple of parks in Goldenrod, if Silver remembered correctly.

_Well, if there aren't any, it seems a bit… lifeless. Only gray asphalt and concrete everywhere. _He doodled a couple of trees on the side of the city square. _Now, that's better._

Before long, only thing left was colouring. The sky turned quickly blue, the sun bright yellow. A hint of blue also on the windows. That way they seemed to reflect the sky.

The boy coloured the people with as many colours as possible. And he just couldn't resist adding a single blue-haired girl there, standing by the fountain. And with a small grin on his face, he drew a boy with red hair next to her. _There. Now it's complete._

Silver put the pen aside and looked around. Strange, it was almost dark in the room; the sun had almost passed below the trees. _For how long did I draw?_

Feeling slightly confused, he switched some lights on and then turned back to the drawing he had just made.

_Hey, it's not that bad!_

Okay, it wasn't perfect: the sky was too dark, and the sun looked kind of stupid with the childish rays coming out of it. Some of the buildings were somehow tilted, and most of the people seemed horribly deformed. And the whole thing looked kind of flat, lacking perspective or whatever. _Oh, well._

But overall, the picture could've been much worse. _For a first try._ And the feel of a large, foreign metropolis, which he had wanted to depict, it was really there.

Silver looked at the picture, all of its little details, and for some reason felt like smiling.

…

'_How was the task? Was it_

_a) a piece of cake_

_b) nothing special, or_

_c) difficult?'_

Both difficult and a piece of cake. _It was really hard at first, but when I started to draw, it turned easy._

'_What happened'_

After some difficulties, I managed to draw a picture of Unova. Or what I imagine it'd look like, anyway. _And I was quite happy about how it turned out. Not that I'm going to nail it to the wall or anything, but still._

'_How did it make you feel?'_

I guess like I've accomplished something. It was pretty fun to draw._ And to try imagining stuff for once.  
_

…

"Hi, Silver! It's me, Crys. How are the Jewels going? Well, of course you're doing just fine, I know it! But I wanted to call and wish you good luck anyway.

You know, Unova is just amazing! I mean, the scenery, people… Everything is so different! And the pokémon here, of course. I have already captured a few to Professor's research. In fact, he said that I need to stop before there won't be any pokémon left, although I don't quite understand as the whole region is full of them…

Oh, and when I called from the airport, I said I didn't know when we're coming back, right? Professor told me today that he has to return to his lab before the end of the week, so I'm guessing we're leaving the day after tomorrow. Maybe we can meet when I come back?

But now I have to hang up, Professor can't seem to find a book I left on his desk earlier. It's such a mess… But talk to you later, bye!"

…

A/N: I don't know if you have noticed, but the Silver in this story actually uses his imagination quite a lot, but doesn't really notice it. Therefore I decided to give him, like the Jewel book says, a small wake-up call.


	10. Determination vs Irritation

A/N: Man, it's hard to write after so very, _very_ long time! But here it is, finally, the next chapter of the magnificent journey to find Silver's joy of living (and maybe some love in the way…)! Hope you'll find the chapter exciting and enjoyable, lots of action in this one. And thanks for your patience, and for all the kind reviews. You, my readers, are beyond awesome!

Chapter X: Determination vs. Irritation

The rain was falling heavily down towards the small field with two boys on it, both a nice distance from another, gazing each other with focused eyes. One of them, the shorter one, grumpily swiped his red – and _soaking wet_ – bangs aside and shifted his stance a little. _Argh, I hate rain!_

"You ready?" he called out, with a voice loud enough to reach through the prickling rainfall.

The other one lazily pushed his yellow and black cap off of his forehead. "Yup, all set!" the boy shouted with a hint of that oh, so familiar – and _really_ annoying – grin in his voice. "But just to warn you, Silv, you're gonna lose for sure!"

Silver secretly grimaced while grabbing one of his own six pokéballs and throwing it into the air. _Yeah, Gold… I certainly hope you're right._

…

'_Chapter 9: Lose a Pokémon Battle._

_Although it is fairly important to be able to feel success in life, it is also a very fine quality to sometimes put one's pride aside and just to give up. Yes, it is time to learn some humility today, and what would be more suitable situation than a nice match between two pokémon trainers? There is a saying that when two trainers' eyes meet, they have to battle. So you have to challenge the first pokémon trainer you encounter, and lose. You can choose the type of match yourself, as long as it is a proper pokémon battle. Just remember to have fun; winning is not the only thing that matters!_'

Silver closed the Special Jewels for Life and wondered why and since when he had started to imagine the book's words in Crys' voice. _Hm. Especially that last part. Strange._

_Ah, whatever, the mission._ Silver thought about the alternatives. He quickly abandoned the idea of challenging someone he knew – it would be better to battle against some random trainer if he had to fight poorly. Of course, if Crys had been around, he'd just challenge her. Oh, well.

So, a random trainer, then. Silver frowned and scratched his chin. Usually the routes in both Kanto and Johto were full of all kinds of people with pokémon with them, so it should be fairly easy to find one. So it'd be fine if he just took a stroll down the road.

_That's settled then_, the boy thought, made sure he had his pokémon with him, and stepped out through the door.

…

Yeah, it _should_ have been easy. Silver had took quite a walk already, towards Viridian City, and he had seen no-one on the way.

Now that he thought about it, it must've been the weather; yesterday's bright sunlight was all gone and the sky was now full of blunt-looking gray clouds. It looked like it could rain any minute. _Great. Just great._

Silver walked on and grumbled at his permanent lack of good luck. He went past a couple of old ladies clutching their umbrellas and babbling lively with each other, but they didn't exactly look like pokémon trainers, so he kept going.

He decided to circle the city and took a route to Pallet. A little town like that would probably be even emptier, though, but whatever. _And besides, if I can't find anyone, there are always people like Red… He's so good battler that I bet I don't even have to try to lose._ But on the other hand, that'd just feel like cheating, and for some mysterious reason he didn't want to do that.

He could distinct Oak's lab from distance. There it was, sitting on its vast hill, looking all sorrowful and abandoned. The gray skies kind of completed the picture. Silver's hands slumped deep into his pockets. _Well, she said they might be coming back tomorrow…_

But suddenly the boy's eyes caught something at the lab's entrance. Or rather, someone.

The figure seemed to be knocking at the door. And quite aggressively, as Silver could hear a sharp thumping noise as he approached the building. _Maybe I'd better go and say there's nobody in there, before they break through the door._

The figure was still there, looking even more impatient. Apparently it was now yelling something towards the upper windows. Silver pricked up his ears and tried to listen.

It sounded something like this, "Oi, Anybody there? Gramps? Super Serious Gal?"

_Eh? Super Serious…?_ "Oh, no. Not _him_."

A sudden idea to turn back flashed in his mind, but he was already too close. The figure had somehow sensed his arrival. It turned around and shouted, "Hey! Silver!"

Cursing under his breath, Silver had no other choice but to walk over to the last person he really wanted to see. "Gold."

"Yo! What're you doing here?" The black-haired boy grinned and lifted his hand into a salute.

Silver lifted his eyebrows. Yeah, what was he doing there, actually?

But Gold wasn't really waiting for an answer, since he just continued, "Anyway, where's Crys? Haven't seen her in ages, so I thought I'd give her a visit." At that point, the boy's expression suddenly turned into a thoughtful one. "But she wasn't home so I came here, and now that Professor-Uncle is missing too."

_You visited her home?_ The thought felt somehow irritating, but Silver just assumed that it was because of Gold's natural habit of irritating him. "They went to Unova. Apparently Professor has some work there."

"Aww, man…" Gold gave one last disappointed glance at the lifeless windows. "Nobody ever tells me anything important!" Silver silently scoffed. _I'm not surprised._

"Well, then. If she's not here, I'm heading back home. To think I even left my copy of PokéWorld: Total Destruction all untouched. Now that's a cool game, with pokémon that turn into zombies…" Gold flashed a grin and grabbed his skateboard, which had been leaning against the wall next to the door.

_He's leaving, good… Oh, wait._ Silver mentally punched himself in the stomach for mere stupidity. Why on Celebi had he wandered just here, just on that time of day? Gold was a pokémon trainer. No, correction: Gold was the first pokémon trainer he had seen today. _Argh, why does my life have to be so hard?!_

"So, see you around, Silv!" By the time of Silver's contemplations, Gold had already fixed his cap, put on his goggles and was now standing one foot on the skateboard, ready to go.

The first drops of rain had started to drip down from the sky. "Gold, wait."

He had to do it. No matter how annoying, and irritating, and traumatizing, and _plain horrible_ it might be. Silver gulped. "Let's battle."

The black-haired boy cocked his head and eyed Silver for a second.

"Hm, a pokémon battle? Sure thingy."

…

By the time they had taken their positions, facing each other across a small field next to the lab, a heavy rain had started to fall, hammering against the building's roof and windows. Silver sunk his hands deep into his pockets and gazed gloomily at his opponent.

"Alright, I don't want to stick around for long. Just one pokémon each?"

"Fine by me!" Gold shouted back and gave a relaxed thumbs-up.

_I'll go first, just so he can choose his pokémon after me. It's a definite advantage in a battle, especially for a jerk like him… _Silver slid his fingertips over the row of pokéballs on his belt, picked one and then released the pokémon it was containing.

"I'm counting on you, Feraligatr", he muttered to it, lowering his voice so that Gold couldn't hear. "This time, we're going to go easy on him." He glanced at the boy. "That means, uhm, that we're letting him win, so just tone your attacks down and don't make them faint, okay?"

Feraligatr looked a bit confused, but made a low, agreeing growl.

Silver needed somebody he could trust completely. Otherwise he'd have chosen Weavile, his very first partner, but he didn't quite dare to get it into another embarrassing battle after the Magikarp incident. _Now, let's see what Gold's going to pick._

"Woah, that guy's sure gotten huge!" Gold said and let out a whistle. "Okay, I know just the opponent for you…" He reached for a pokéball and threw it into the chilly air.

Silver felt his jaw drop as Gold's pokémon materialized. _No way. That guy's an idiot._

"Look who it is, Explotaro! Your old pal Feraligatr!" Gold said enthusiastically to his enormous Typhlosion.

_Typhlosion. Seriously. _"Uhm…" Silver cleared his throat. _Fire against water in this weather?_ "You sure, Gold?"

"Hm?" Gold turned his head towards the other boy. "Yeah, Explo's wanted to battle Feraligatr again for a long time, you know. So it's pretty psyched up."

… _Right._ Silver wasn't that hopeful. What if he accidentally knock out Explotaro and won? He took a deep breath. "Okay, whatever. You can start."

"Yeah! Explotaro, straight-on, Flame Thrower!"

"Stay put, Feraligatr!" Normally, of course, he would've just countered the attack with another one, preferably water type.

Silver watched as the typhlosion let a mighty roar and then shot flames out of its mouth, right towards its opponent. The sight was pretty impressive, the boy thought, seeing the flare piercing through the raindrops. _But it's a shame it's not gonna work._ The rain was stronger; by the time the attack had reached its destination, it had weakened considerably. Feraligatr seemed unharmed. Silver glanced at Gold, who looked a little thoughtful.

Silver frowned. This battle was going to take a while.

_Okay, something weak… _"Alright, Water Gun!" He was almost sure that Feraligatr gave a small glance at him before obeying. "_Just try not to make it faint, Feraligatr"_, Silver tried to convey his feelings to his pokémon telepathically.

"Hey! Battle seriously!" he heard Gold shouting. "You don't think we can handle it? Explo, Swift!"

Explotaro released a stream of spinning stars that shot right through the water attack and hit Feraligatr.

"Or maybe it's that you're a bit rusty", Gold snickered. "After all, it's been a while since you've had to battle for real, Silv!"

_Gah, you smug brat! If this was a real battle…_ Silver grumbled inside his mind and ordered Feraligatr to shoot another water gun.

This time the typhlosion hopped smoothly aside and launched a large cloud of black smoke from its back. Soon the whole field was covered with it. _Smokescreen. Like the visibility wasn't bad already…_

Feraligatr was looking about with a careful, determined expression. _Good, just hold on, and let it come to you, Feraligatr. _Although, he didn't really want the two pokémon to be engaged in a close-range battle, since he knew his feraligatr was stronger in both physical defence and attack. _But an element of surprise is always a plus. Maybe something good can come of this, after all._

Now, Explotaro! DynamicPunch!"

The typhlosion appeared out of nowhere, and within seconds, it was gone again. Feraligatr staggered a little from the sudden blow.

"What're you gonna do now, Silv?" Gold's voice said from behind the smoke, and let out an arrogant laugh.

Silver grimaced. "Hold on, Feraligatr. The rain will wash away the smoke." _Okay, keep your cool, Silver. He's just being his usual, annoying self…_

Swift, again. "Hey, what about we decide a prize for the winner? Make things more interesting?" Another laugh. Silver felt like strangling something.

The visibility was getting a little better. Silver saw a shadow of the typhlosion through the haze and hastily commanded Feraligatr to dash right at it, just for show. And partly because he just couldn't stand Gold's mocking.

Feraligatr missed, though, and got a straight slam into its side, as the opponent suddenly slammed itself towards it. Silver silently cursed, as Gold's joyful shout echoed in his ears.

"So the prize, Silv, any idea?" Gold still went on. "Hm, it'd be great if we had some pretty ladies who'd give us a kiss if we won! That'd be great, right? Wow, a shame Crys is not here… Hehe, just kidding!"

_Gold, you dirty little…_ "On your right, Feraligatr! Aqua Tail!"

Feraligatr's tail, reinforced with a wave of raging water, slammed right at the typhlosion, who flinched in pain.

"Whoa! You okay, Explo? Swift!" Silver looked at Gold's surprised expression with some cruel contempt. But then the boy seemed to return to his usual self, as he just continued like there had been no interruption, "But anyway, I don't think she'd do it. I mean, If I tried and kissed her, she'd probably just smack me in the head, or maybe kick me…"

Mysteriously, with these words, something snapped inside Silver. _That's it. You're dead._ "Surf! Drown that bastard!"

A huge wave rose over the poor Explotaro.

"Counter it!" Gold was yelling. "Flame Wheel!"

"Don't let it get away! Aqua Tail, pin it down to the ground!"

"No, punch it before it does that!"

The two pokémon were wrestling with each other now, and their trainers were furiously cheering them on. A thunder rumbled somewhere near.

Both of the pokémon were considerably exhausted by now. Feraligatr was covered in bruises by all the punching, and Explotaro's fur was all muddy. But the two were enthusiastically fighting on.

"I'm still gonna win, Silv! DynamicPunch!" Gold shouted, huffing a little.

"Aqua Tail! _And don't call me that!_" Silver yelled back.

"Haha, what? Silv? But I had to come up with some nickname, you know! Okay, from now on, I'll – I'll call you Silly! How'd ya like that, Silly?"

"I'll strangle you, you douchebag!" Silver growled, his face red with fury. "Time to end this!"

"Sure it is! Full-on, Blast Burn!"

"Hydro Cannon!"

Both pokémon launched their attacks at the same time. There was a mighty explosion. The two pokémon, who had been wrestling face to face, seemed to be shot into opposite directions by the sheer power of the two ultimate attacks. A wave of pressure hit against Silver's face.

…_Shit._

His rage already fading, and turning into shades of regret and embarrassment, Silver peered through the water, fire and smoke.

_Oh, no! What have I done?_ The whole field was surrounded by a grave silence, save the continuous pitter-patter of the rain. _Please, let Explotaro be conscious, please, please, please…_

_Please…_

Suddenly, an orange flicker pierced the fog. Silver held his breath, and tried desperately to see the light better.

_Yes._ The smoke faded and revealed the bulky figure of Explotaro. The fire on its back was again in full flame. On the other side of the field, Feraligatr was lying unconscious. _Yes. Yes!_

Gold's victorious yell bounced through the field. Silver couldn't believe his exceptional good luck.

_That was close. _Thanking all legendary pokémon he knew, Silver took Feraligatr's pokéball into his hand, ready to call the pokémon back.

"Hey, what's going on here?"

Both Silver and Gold jumped. An old man wearing a long white lab coat had appeared from around the corner of the laboratory. And behind him, a shorter, more feminine figure showed up, carrying two heavy-looking bags.

"Gold, Silver, is that you? What on _earth _are you doing out here in this weather?"

Gold's expression brightened even more. Silver felt his heart making a sudden and very inexplicable additional jump inside his chest.

"_Crys?_"

…

'_How was the task? Was it_

_a piece of cake_

_nothing special, or_

_difficult?_'

Difficult._ Damn that Gold… Just…Wait for the next time we meet._

'_What happened?_'

I battled Gold. _That was a huge mistake. _And he won. _Scarcely._

'_How did it make you feel?_'

… _I don't want to think about it. Ever again._

…

A/N: Crystal's back, yay! Oh, and expect to see some more Gold in the later chapters, he's just too great a character, and pretty crucial to Silver's progress and mental growth, I think, since he's an important friend (although a complete douche at times) and a boy of the same age as our Silly here. So, 'til next time!


	11. Warmth

A/N: Hey, fellows! How's it going? Here's a new chapter for you. Gah, expect some mistakes, as I don't have a corrector on me right now, and there might be some internal issues in the story as well. But I had to post this now, right after finishing it, or else I'd just flunk it and start again, as I've done a few times already with this chapter. I just can't get it right! Anyway, here we go.

Chapter XI: Warmth

Feeling uncommonly cheerful, Silver hopped off of the back of his big, black honchcrow and then looked around at his surroundings. The city he had just arrived in was small and tranquil-looking. _So, Violet City… Haven't been here in a while, huh?_

Without himself noticing, the boy whistled a couple of carefree tunes as he advanced towards the simple light-coloured, one-storey houses that sat on the edge of the street, each looking more or less like the others. After checking the name of the street from a nearby sign and determining the right number, he turned to one of the houses.

"What do you think, is this the one?" he merrily asked the honchcrow, who only eyed him back with an indifferent expression that clearly said, 'How the hell would I know?'

With a small but altogether not that grumpy 'hmph', the boy recalled his pokémon and then walked towards the door, again idly whistling. _Okay, nice house, neat garden… Yeah, I can picture her living here._

Although he had known Crys for years, he had never really had a chance to visit her house before. _Well, first time for everything, and she said I could lend her kitchen._ Silver supposed it was okay, since on the phone earlier, the girl had said that her mother would be out of town for the day anyway.

_So it's gonna be just the two of us… _Upon that though, and since he had reached the door, the boy came to a halt. For some reason, the mysteriously good mood he had had all morning faded for just a tiniest bit, and suddenly he was feeling nervous.

_Hey, what is it? Why am I getting so worked up? _He mentally scolded himself, quickly assuming that the nervousness came from the fact he wasn't really used to visiting people's homes. Well, apart from Green's, though, and Red's, since that guy held various get-togethers quite often.

_But anyway, it's good that she agreed to help. Yesterday, we didn't have time to talk much, since Gold just kept messing around… _And besides, Crys must have been exhausted after the long trip, so Silver had dragged Gold along and left after only a brief exhance of greetings and how-you-beens.

_Well, no point in standing here all day. _After a rapid shake of his head in the hopes of making it clearer, Silver took a deep breath and rang the doorbell.

"_Coming!_" chimed a familiar voice from somewhere inside the house.

The sound of a couple of hurrying footsteps, and an opening door, and there she was, standing in front of him.

"Ah, Silver! Come in, come in!" Crys chirped with such a happy face that it made Silver's cheeks abruptly feel a little hotter._ What's with that face? Such a cheerful girl._

"Sorry for the mess", she said, while leading him through the house. "Me and Mom have a little different sense of organizing, so, uh…" She trailed off and gave a soft laugh, which seemed to ignite some mysterious, warm feeling inside Silver. _Well, I'm glad she's back._

The inside of the house seemed pleasant and full of light. The walls were painted with white paint, but Silver thought he could distinguish the shade of the lightest blue in there somewhere. The floor and the furniture were of light-coloured materials in general. Silver gave curious glances at the surroundings.

Although he had expected everything to be in a tiptop, almost clinical order, he was surprisingly wrong. Not that it was messy, but – after a while of struggling to find a fitting word – _cosy_, with a cupboard full of various kinds of decorative items here, a disorganized bookcase there, a read newspaper on a coffee table. Silver liked it. With all these small marks of living, the house really seemed to be somebody's home.

Finally, they reached their destination and arrived in a small kitchen, which was equally full of all kinds of homely things. Ashamed, Silver thought of his own hideout, in which the closest thing to a kitchen was a small cupboard in one corner and a microwave oven sitting on top of it.

"I looked up a couple of books that might be of help", Crys said, nodding at a pile of cookery books on the dining table. "So we're baking a cake, right?"

_Ah, yes. The task. That's what I'm here for. _"Yeah. It's the tenth chapter", Silver said, giving the _Special Jewels for Life_ to the girl. She opened it and started reading aloud.

"'_Chapter 10: Bake a cake and share it with friends._

_Congratulations, you have reached the tenth Jewel! That, my friend, means we are halfway through already. Time sure flies! On this fine occasion, undoubtedly worthy of celebration, let's bake a cake and invite some friends over to enjoy it. As we all have our own preferences, you can choose the recipe yourself, and you can decide the number of the guests on your own as well. From one to countless, i's all fine, as long as there's enough cake for everyone to enjoy, and as the cake itself is made with the warmth and love every home-made cake requires. Have fun!_'"

Crys closed the book and looked at Silver with a very sweet expression. "Really? It has been ten tasks already? That's wonderful, Silver, I'm proud of you. Honestly speaking, at first I didn't think that you would do any of them." She gave him an apologetic smile.

"Honestly speaking, I didn't either", Silver mumbled. Yeah, what miraculous chain of events had brought him to this point where he practically started his mornings by opening the small, slim book, like it was some sort of a necessity, like eating breakfast, or brushing one's teeth?

"Anyway", he said, dismissing the question to somewhere in the back of his mind, as he couldn't think of an answer to it anyway. "Thanks for letting me lend the kitchen. The one in my hideout is... well, you know."

She shook her head and again smiled like the whole world was all blue skies and sunlight. Silver concentrated on putting the book back to his pocket to hide the confused embarrassment he was suddenly feeling. "No, it's okay! I'm glad to have company, it'd just be weird being home alone after the trip... Ah, have you already decided who you want to invite?"

_Hm? Oh, right, she means the mission._ "Nah, I don't want to invite anyone, I don't want any hassle. And technically, you're here, so it should be enough", he said, his tone grumpy, in the hopes of it making Crys drop her obvious 'But there has to be guests because the book says so'.

And apparently it worked, as there was only a disapproving frown and a shake of head. "I see. Whatever you want, Silver."

For a second, the boy thought he saw a strange look in Crys' eyes, but she turned towards the cookery books, so he couldn't be very sure. "So… what kind of cake do you want to bake?" she then asked, and Silver took the change of subject as an excuse to start skimming through the recipes.

Soon they had decided to make a strawberry cream cake – not that Silver liked sweet things that much, but Crys had looked at the picture with such a longing expression that Silver thought they might as well make that one._ Well, it doesn't really matter to me what we're baking, anyway. And she said she already had all the ingredients for it._

After they had washed their hands, put on aprons – which uttered loud opposition from Silver at first, which, in turn, uttered a menacing glare from Crys – and gathered everything they needed on the kitchen counter, Crys asked Silver whether he had any experience in baking. After his strict and honest "No, not at all", she gave a small sigh and explained him the basics.

"… But I'm pretty sure we'll manage just fine, since the instructions are really simple", she said with a reassuring smile.

"Right." Silver eyed the long recipe. "So we'll just have to follow all these twenty-something steps… Yup, nothing can go wrong. _Absolutely nothing_." Crys just chuckled and told him to measure the flour.

After a while, Silver was getting the hang of it. _Hey, what do you know, it's not that hard. _Whether it was because the recipe in fact was quite simple after all, or because of Crys' thorough way of instructing, Silver soon found the measuring, mixing and whisking more enjoyable than he'd ever thought.

_Or maybe it's just the company… _Silver stole a glance at Crys while she was putting the cake into the oven and explaining the importance of the right cooking time and temperature. He couldn't resist a small smile working up towards the corner of his mouth._ Her enthusiasm is kinda contagious, huh._

"…So now we'll just have to wait. Oh, it's so hot in here! Maybe I should open the window to cool it down a little…" Crys turned to face Silver. "Huh? Something wrong? There's not any flour in my face, is there?"

Silver quickly swallowed his smirk. "No, nothing. Never mind."

After that, the two sat down in the kitchen table, and Crys turned the conversation towards the past few days.

"Hey, tell me all about the Jewels. Was there any interesting ones while I was away?"

"Well…" Silver flinched a little. Yeah, these – what, four days – had been full of things that you _could _call interesting. But Silver really didn't want to talk about half of them, so he just mentioned with a few words that he had gone over to Green's for a couple of days, among other things. Then he quickly changed the subject to Crys' trip overseas.

"Oh, there were so many things to see!" she exclaimed, her whole expression suddenly brightening. Silver knew she meant the pokémon, and was not surprised, since she then started to talk about the many exciting inhabitants of the Unova region. Silver smiled by himself again while watching her animous explanation, nodding in times and sometimes asking further questions of some pokémon that picked his interest.

_Hm. Funny. Just sitting here and listening to Crys… There it is again, that strange, warm feeling. _Silver glanced at the oven._ I don't think the heat has anything to do with it, though…_

Soon the sharp beep of the timer confirmed that their little break was over. Crys lifted the cake out of the oven and told that they were going to slice it into three layers after it had cooled down.

"The next thing to do, however, is the topping", the girl said, checking the recipe. "Would you mind whipping the cream? The mixer is right there in the corner."

Silver nodded and reached for the cream. After that, Crys excused herself for a moment, saying that she had something to take care of, but that she'd be back in a minute. Silver was left in the kitchen alone with the mixer and the bottle of cream.

"Hm, add sugar, mix until thick..."

Silver couldn't almost believe the situation he was currently in. There he was, making whipped cream in a friends' kitchen. These last ten days had been full of all kinds of new things that Silver had experienced for the first time. Of course, some of them embarrassing, troublesome or just plain terrifying, but all in their own way intriguing. _How did I even spend my days before the _Special Jewels for Life_? I don't even remember. And to think it's all because of Crys..._

The mixer's buzzing sound drifted into Silver's ears as the cream twirled around in the bowl, making small, constantly changing circles.

_Why is it that just seeing her makes me somehow calm? And listening to her, looking at her laughing... why does it make me suddenly want to smile like crazy?_ Silver frowned at the bowl. _I must be loosing my mind._

"Okay, all done! How about you?" Crys was standing at the door, looking at Silver.

"Uhm..." He cleared his throat. "Yeah, I think it looks kinda like what it's supposed to", the boy said, checking the cream, which had miraculously turned into a fluffy mass. _When did that happen?_

"What? Something on my face?" he dryly added, since Crys was still staring.

"Yes, actually... There's some cream on your left cheek."

_Damnit. _Silver rubbed his cheek and wished that he could as easily wipe off the freshly appeared blush._ So uncool._

...

With the whipped cream ready, there was only little left to do. Crys somehow turned a pile of strawberries into a sweet-tasting, thick filling when Silver wasn't looking, but not before picking the prettiest ones to be put on top of the cake.

Then they built the cake, putting the strawberry filling on one layer and cream on the other. Then the rest of the cream and the strawberries on top - Crys made Silver do the decorating, saying that it was his cake, after all - and then, after all that, it was finally ready.

_Whoa. _Silver looked at the cake on the kitchen table. The cake stared back, the red strawberries glimmering in the kitchen light. _Did I - did we really make that? It actually looks good._

"I hope it tastes as great as it looks", Crys said, appearing at Silver's side, briefly brushing through his arm. Silver felt his neck tingle for some reason. "You can wait at the table, I'll get the plates."

"Hey, Crys?" Silver asked after sitting down.

"Hm?" The girl was reaching for the upper cabinets, her back facing Silver. "What is it?"

"Um... I just wanted to say thanks."

Apparently she had gotten what she needed from the cabinet, as she turned around with a pile of plates and dessert spoons in her hands. "Oh, you don't have to thank me! Like I said, I would've been just lonely and bored if you hadn't come over, and it's always nice to help -"

Silver shook his head. "No, not just about today. I mean, thanks for these past days, the Jewels, you know, everything. I..." He trailed off and frowned. "Wait, why is there so many plates?"

_Ding-dong._

Suddenly the smile in Crys' face seemed somehow unnatural and frozen. Silver's eyes narrowed.

"Crys..."

"Yes?"

_Ding-dong. _"Who did you invite?"

_Ding-dong. Ding-dong. _Crys' smile faltered for a tiniest bit before answering. "Oh, you know, just... Pretty much everyone."

…

"Crys, hi! You're back! How was Unova? Now, tell me _everything_, I've heard it's_ so _amazing! Right? Oh, _say something_, Blue!"

"Yo, Super-Serious! I heard there was cake here! And - is that an apron, Silv?"

"Haha! I didn't even know you were travelling, sorry! After you, Yellow..."

"Crystal! Did you bring any souvenirs for me? You promised you would!"

"Cake? Did someone say cake?"

"Ah, wait, Diamond, we should greet our elders first. Pearl, that means you too."

"C'mon inside, Ruby! You can ask about the garden later, ya know!"

Silver stood at the door and patiently waited for everyone to get inside. _So much for the nice and quiet. Should've known she was up to something when she so suspiciously left the kitchen for a while..._

Crys was handing a small paper bag tied with a ribbon to Emerald, who stared at it eagerly, asking what was inside. The small hall suddenly seemed to be cramped and full of life. Everyone was looking around, laughing or chatting with each other. Silver hemmed. _Well, how could I be mad?_

After they had all sat down at the kitchen table, in the mindst of the general hassle caused by the cake being cut, Silver leaned towards Crys and muttered with a smirk, "You know, if you wanted a welcome party, you could've just said so."

She flashed him an apologetic smile and put a plate in his hand. "Go on, taste it!"

As Silver put the first spoonful into his mouth, he thought about how clever the person who invented baking must've been._ Seriously. Or does it taste this good because there're friends here to share it with?_

_Hm. Whatever._ He took another bite.

...

'How was the task? Was it

a) a piece of cake

b) nothing special, or

c) difficult?'

A piece of cake. _Yeah, pun intended. And with Crys helping me, it really was easy._

'What happened?'

I baked a strawberry cream cake with Crys. She invited the whole gang over. It was pretty fun. _Even Gold didn't annoy me as much as usual._

'How did it make you feel?'

I don't know. _There was that strange feeling. Strange but nice._

…

It was quite late until Silver was back in his hideout. After sleepily scribbling the answers in the end of the chapter, he closed the book and got into bed.

_I'm so tired..._ The boy pulled the blanket over his shoulders and closed his heavy eyes. _Who knew that baking a single cake could take so much energy?_

He snuggled his head deeper into the pillow and gave a small laugh. _And the cake actually tasted good. Great, even. Somehow, eating it made me feel warm and fuzzy..._

He let out a long yawn. _That feeling was kind of like how I felt when I was with Crys earlier... Exactly the same... Don't know its name, though..._

Hovering at the edge of sleep, the boy smiled.

_So let's just call it warmth, just like in the book... If I remember right, it was talking about warmth and something... Like for baking a cake, you need warmth, and..._

_Warmth... Now, what was it?_

_Warmth..._

_Warmth, and..._

_..._

_...Love?_

...

A/N: Aaaaand there, we're halfway through! So it's only downhill from here… Just kidding. What it really means is that there's still an equal amount of harrassment and suspense in store for poor Silver, and, I hope, lots of fun and enjoyment for you guys. So, pass the cake and spread the love! Over and out.


End file.
